A Hedgehog Story
by VioletMoonlights
Summary: After my brother was captured by Dr. Eggman; I was taken into this unbelievable fantasy world of Sonic's. With him, Shadow, Silver, and my great friend by my side; nothing will stop us on our journey.
1. Unexpected

A Hedgehog Story

Chapter 1 Unexpected

"I kinda like the look." A blue hedgehog had commented. I panicked and rushed to a nearby creek and looked down to see my reflection in the ripples.

I was a hedgehog…after three days of being here in this strange world filled with upright-walking animals, hills shaped as corkscrews, red springs, gold rings in every corner, seven colorful chaos emeralds, and big huge cliffs with right at the end were speed ramps…I turned into one.

I shrank down a couple of inches, just a tad bit taller than the hedgehog next to me. My brown long hair turned to long quails. Black but shaded into purple till it got to the ends. My ears moved to the top of my head, they were cat-like now. My eyes were abnormally bigger and yet since they changed in size my pupils turned narrower, but still had my normal eye color, green. I also had a little black nose and little fangs for teeth, and I was still wearing the same clothes and shoes I worn when I was human. But they shrunk whenever I turned into this.

"How am I going to change back!?" I yelled at the blue hedgehog, not meaning too. He'd helped me whenever Dr. Eggman, his enemy, attacked my house and destroyed it to try to kidnap my first little brother, Kyle, and succeeded. He'd also been helping me trying to get him back to me by traveling into his world, where Dr. Eggman fled back to.

"I can't help you with that, whenever somebody in my world stays too long they change into creatures like me. And besides-" The blue hedgehog made a wink. "If you're a hedgehog, you can run as fast and attack like I do. We can get to your brother more quickly."

I'd made a short grin. "Yeah, I guess soo." Then it had turned into frown.

"Hey, don't make say it again!" the hedgehog teased. "Like what I always said to Elise, just smile! I promise to be by your side and help you along the way. We're partners!" Then he raised his hand for a high-five.

I raised my hand as well and slapped our two gloved hands together.

"Ch'yeah! Now were talking!" Then he grabbed the same hand I made the high five with, and started to dash down a checker pattern hill that led to a roller-coaster track-like corkscrew.

I thought about a friend of mine at that moment. He was a big fan of this guy who leading me, heck; he even had all of his games!

Dylan was his name and if he was in my shoes, he'll be screaming and dancing full of joy. If he seen me now, his face will be fully written with jealously.

Before this journey, I started to like this blue hedgehog myself and bought one of his games. After I played, I realized why my friend had a big deal about it. But how do I know that this video game character is for real, or this world was?

Things like this don't happen to people like me. Well maybe they do for example; Bella from _Twilight_ never knew that she was going to meet a vampire named Edward. I guess this experience was happening to me back a week ago.

Sonic was the blue hedgehog's name. Therefore he's called…

"Woohoo! I wish these corkscrews last forever!" Sonic yelled, as we ran up screaming.

…_Sonic the Hedgehog_.


	2. The Beginning

Chapter 2 The Beginning

Well since I started at the somewhat middle of the story; let me explain everything that happened before that took place. First off, I need to tell you my name. My name is Courtney, but I much prefer Court.

It was the fourth week of summer vacation and I was at my grandma's, playing Xbox, with my little brother Kyle watching me. My other little brother Ryan was off doing something in another room.

I was playing Sonic the Hedgehog next gen. And I yelled a childish 'yay!' whenever I defeated Solaris again.

"You know what's funny, Kyle? This is the only Sonic game I defeated soo far." I told my brother a secret.

My brother didn't answer. I then turned around in my chair and saw him look at the TV screen uninterested.

"I wish they had Mario games for Xbox." He mumbled. I made a growl.

"Is that only what you're interested in? You know, you can like other things than Mario."

"But Mario is soo awesome! It's better than this!"

Then one of those Mario and Sonic arguments started again.

"Mario can shoot fireballs!"

"Sonic can outrun Mario!"

"Then why was Sonic going fast as Mario in the Olympic games?!"

"Because Sonic tried to make Mario look good in the games!"

"I bet Yoshi can run faster!"

"I doubt it!"

And this continued on for about five more minutes till I ended the argument. And it wasn't long till our mom showed up after work, to pick us up from here, and took us back home.

I went into my room, thinking what to do now. And I decided to read where I left off in _The Phantom of the Opera_. I watched the movie, and now made me obsessed. And I wanted to read the book now.

After I flipped the page in my book, I heard my cell phone vibrate on my nightstand nearby making a _bbuuuzzzing_ noise.

I placed my bookmark in my book and I walked over to pick up the phone, flip it, and saw it was a text. It was from Dylan, and it said that he needed help to make a video for Sonic's birthday, and he wanted me on the IM immediately.

I texted back to him saying that I'll get on as soon as I can after my dad was off the laptop, but he texted me back saying he needed help now.

Minutes later after my dad gotten off, I got on and helped my friend with his big movie project.

But in the end, Movie Maker didn't agree with him and didn't finish.

Sonic…I remember watching that one series on Disney Channel when I was little and thought that was the best kid show on TV at the time. But after a few years they took it off.

And later, whenever I went to movie rental store and looked at the games section, I saw the game _Sonic Heroes_ and asked my dad to rent it for me.

Then it was _Shadow the Hedgehog_, _Sonic Riders_…

And this year I got _Sonic the Hedgehog_.

You can say I'm a Sonic fan; but not the ultimate fan. Dylan was the one who owned the title of that, unless there was a bigger Sonic fan than him somewhere in the world. But in my book, it's him.

The next night after this, everything just went normal to abnormal.

"_And the winner is…Luigi!"_ The announcer spoke the winner in Super Smash Bros Brawl. We were playing video games together, as usual. And my brother Kyle won.

I stared at the TV screen shocked. Unbelievable. I knew I should have won. I mostly took everybody out during the brawl. I sadly just looked at my character, Sonic, who was standing there clapping in the distance along with two other characters. And I saw Luigi, doing his happy pose in the front.

I saw my brother smirk. This fueled my anger.

_Rematch…_This word echoing inside of me. _REMATCH!_

"Eh, I'm done for tonight." My brother just suddenly decided. I looked at him in full anger. He had done this in the past, and I refuse him to do it now.

"REMATCH!" I finally said and released the word. My brother looked at me both normal and scared.

"No, I'm tired. Sorry Courtney." He spoke and fakily yawned afterwards. That liar.

"No…Rematch. Me. _Now_." I said each word seriously and separate. I played video games before he did, and I won't let my little brother get the best of me tonight.

"No Court." He sounded freighted of me.

"Please." I spoke a little normal this time. But still my brother gave the same answer: No.

I growled deep in my throat, stood up, and threw two of my Wii remotes on the sofa furious. My brother looked like he was going to complain but I turned to him with a glare.

Competitive…

That's one of the words that described me. But it's a little non-compared to the other words that everyone recognized me as, like; creative, artistic, shy, timid…people at school tell me that.

Competitive and talkative are not words to describe me whenever somebody encountered me for the first time. But once you get to know me, and when I get to know the person, I just change, magically. My best friends Chel's and Ellen know my true side, and Dylan was getting to know that side too.

"Luigi is stronger than Sonic. That's why you lost." Kyle explained happily. Somehow he gained his courage back. Psh, is he wanting me to hurt him?

Before I even got the chance, I felt the ground shaking where I was standing. It stopped for five seconds, and then the ground shook again. But more rapidly this time.

My brother fell to the floor, and I quickly rushed and tried to pull him back up. But the shaking started again with even more of a jolt this time, and me and brother fell backwards.

"W-What's going on?" My brother sounded scared. I quickly rushed to him and hugged him close. I wish the rest of the family were here, but my parents and my other little brother went grocery shopping. I was left babysitting my brother for tonight. What do I do in a time like this when there's an earthquake?

"I don't know…" I sounded scared myself. "It's an earthquake I think. We need to go outside…" The vibrations of the ground were huge this time. It shook that even our family pictures fell to the ground, and glass shattered everywhere.

"…_Now_." I finished my sentence.

Me and my brother ran for the nearest exit, which was the front door. And we were careful no to fall or anything. I quickly unlocked the door and grabbed my brother's hand and rushed out to the front steps. And when I looked directly in front of me…

There were thousands of robots covering my huge front yard of my house, all of them armed directly at me and my brother. And I saw a huge robot in front of all the small ones. It like something you'll see in _Transformers_ but it had its own weird goofy style to it. It didn't have a face, but it had a man sitting on top of it.

He was big, and wore all red, white, gold, and black. He had dark glasses placed upon his eyes and he also had a big puffy orange mustache. I knew him.

"Dr. Eggman?" I whispered. This can't be real. Video game characters couldn't just pop out in people's front yards. Can they?

Dr. Eggman stood from his sitting place on his robot, and smirked directly at me and my little brother.

"Hello, I' am Dr. Eggman. Sorry to interrupt you miss on your Saturday night, but I wish to take your little brother off of your hands." He said and pointed at my brother. There I hugged him protectively.

"What do you want from him!?" I questioned loudly. I knew I could've hurt by saying as such to a villain.

_Is this a dream?_

The egg-shaped man laughed soo foolishly and soo loud that the whole neighborhood could have heard him.

"Let's just say that there's something great that I desire from _inside_ him."

I heard my brother whimper and he started to cry nervously. I held him tighter as I made me and him walk backwards to the front door again.

Before I grabbed the doorknob, a few of the small robots appeared behind us, surprisingly, and blocked our only exit. And as I looked back in front, the robots surrounded us. We can't escape. _Crap…_

Eggman laughed again. "Ha! Nice try on that. That's all what my victims decide when they see me." Then he angry mumbled a name or something to himself.

I embraced my brother tighter when Eggman took another look at us again. He sighed.

"Look, since this is taking longer than I expected—how about a deal? You give me your brother and your home won't be destroyed. Deal?"

I shook my head fast in rejection.

"No! I refuse!" I yelled. Just like a true older sister.

_This really can't be real…_

"Then you leave me no choice." Eggman said in a serious tone, as he controlled his robot. There a big mechanical hand lashed right at us.

Me and my brother screamed as loud our voices can get. Totally freighted, I just held Kyle and automatically headed for the door and tried to push the robots aside. But instead of them being still, two robots grabbed a hold of me tightly.

One of the robots in the army that surrounded us in front, it pushed me and my brother apart. And there, the robot that Eggman had grabbed him in its huge mechanical hand. Trapped.

"COURTNEY!" My brother screamed soo loud in fear.

"KYLE!" I screamed back, even louder.

Eggman laughed loudly again. "Fire!" He commanded his minions.

And I was forced to watch my house being destroyed, while the robots that had me; dragged me down to where Eggman's machine was. What's going to happen to me now when this is over?

Shots, mechanical noises, explosions, my cries from me and my brother…that's what I heard from that night. But I mostly heard the sound of wind whipping around us, and my home.

It just happened so suddenly.

It was blue wind, and it circled around my house like a tornado. Since the wind was that strong, it blew off the fire off of my house like it was a birthday candle.

This wind…this appearance…and this incident, I saw this before. It was like watching a replay.

That wind wasn't a wind at all.

The wind stopped suddenly, and there was a blue hedgehog that just appeared on top of my house.

"So! It looks like somebody has started the party without me!" The hedgehog spoke with a smile.

I gasped.

"What!?...He couldn't be…" I spoke loud in surprise at first, then whisper.

And there, Sonic the Hedgehog made his smile to a big grin when he turned to me.

"Not you! How did you end up here, you annoying pesky hedgehog!" Eggman yelled in furious anger.

"Easy, I saw you and your army heading somewhere earlier. It wasn't that hard to miss, yet, it wasn't that hard to hear either." The hedgehog teased.

Eggman growled furious. "GET HIM!" and then the robots aimed and prepared to shoot their missiles.

"Nice! Let's light up this party!" Sonic said as he jumped from the house and quickly attacked and destroyed all the robots in the army before any of them had the chance to shoot. He destroyed the ones that held me, last.

"You ok?" he asked me.

"Yes, but Eggman's got my brother!" I nervously pointed up to where Eggman's robot held him.

"No problem!" He jumped up and stared at Eggman, face to face.

"Looks like your party's over, Eggman!" Sonic started, ready to destroy his machine.

"Ha! But it's already begun, my friend!"

Quickly, the top of Eggman's robot begun to defuse with the bottom. And when it detached, it revealed it was a tiny aircraft, and the arms were still linked to it. It didn't detach.

"Bye bye!" Eggman teased, waved, and he pressed a button on his control system.

"COURTNEY!" I heard Kyle's cry again. Then out of the nowhere the aircraft wasn't there hovering anymore, in super speed it flew straight ahead from our driveway and sped off to the road on the right.

"KYLE!" I screamed again, as I dashed down my driveway. Thinking I can keep up. But something came right behind, and held me tight. It was Sonic.

"Hold on!" Sonic commanded me as he ran…_fast_.

I couldn't even hold my head up since he was going soo quick. Wind was everywhere on my face that I couldn't even see. I closed my eyes tight as it could, and leaned my head close to Sonic's and I kept whispering:

_It's just a dream…_

_It's just a dream…_

"Heh, he's going back to the place were we came out of. No surprise there." Sonic spoke. "A little faster and we'll save your brother."

I now opened my eyes and there saw Sonic's calm face when he looked at me.

"Just hold on a little longer…Ok?" He spoke soft.

I did a short nod then head back to the state that I was in before, except closing my eyes.

Because of the wind, I couldn't see much where Sonic's running. I there saw him make a quick right turn and head into the part of the forest that I always walk to sometimes, to be by and listen to the creek that was there.

I heard him dash across the creek and he ran more and more fast, further away. Suddenly I saw a big bright light ahead and Sonic was running right at it.

"What!?" I yelled confused.

"Ready?" Sonic asked and made a wink when I turn to look at him.

Before I can even answer a 'yes' or a 'no', we both were in the light already. A bright hurtful white light that made me close my eyes once more.

When we entered that light; you can say it was a beginning of a new change, or the ending of my normal life.

Or you can say, both.


	3. Game turned Real

Chapter 3 Game turned Real

_It's just a dream…_

That was all I can say. Video games couldn't be real, no matter how much I wished in the past. This has to be some crazy dream. Why would Eggman want to steal my knucklehead of a brother? Why would Sonic just take me? Why everything that happened almost compare to what happened in the beginning of Sonic next gen? This is too crazy to be real life.

_It's just a dream…_ I thought.

"Courtney…" A voice spoke to me. I mumbled something, and hugged the warm thing I was sleeping on.

"Courtney?" It spoke again, but in a funny tone this time.

I opened my eyes slowly from my darkness of my slumber, and saw I was in a forest. Yeah, it had to be a dream! But one question, why was I in a forest? I couldn't just sleepwalk all the way here from my house.

And another thing; what was the warm thing I'm hugging on? And the voice…

I turned to look at the thing. It was blue, and it was a hedgehog…

"AHHH!!!" I screamed and flinched, and then I backed away.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!" Was the first thing I said, really quickly. Then I pointed at him.

"You…You can't be real! But how!? But why!?"

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Sonic yelled and waved his hands. I stopped.

"First, you didn't have to apologize. You fainted whenever we entered my world so we've rested here, and I let you sleep on my shoulder. And I know something like that was bond to happen. Second, what do you mean not real? Everybody knows I'm real here. Unless in your world; that people think I'm a myth, legend or something."

I stood up while shaking my head.

"No, it's not that! You can't be real because you're a video game character! And video game characters, like you, don't exist. And here; what you said, 'your world', doesn't exist either!"

"Video game…?" Sonic stared at me blankly, and then he laughed.

"You can't be serious, me a video game? Haha! I'll be really famous if there was one here. Are you pulling my leg?"

"No! And you're on TV shows too! I'm not lying!"

Sonic laughed again. "Prove it."

"I can't show you, but I prove by saying who all of your friends are. You have Tails, Knuckles, Shadow—"

"Woah! Stop!" Sonic interrupted. "You know almost everyone I met?"

I gave him a nod.

"Ok then…I believe you." Sonic spoke quiet. "But how can this be? What you told me. It doesn't make any sense." Then he silently thought to himself.

"Unless somebody must've seen me from your world, and then started to make a game about me." He laughed again.

"It might be possible, but I still can't get over the fact that you're real." I said.

Sonic stood up and walked over to me. Then he raised his arms halfway.

"Touch me, I don't feel techy. But if you do, then that's weird."

I bent down and started to pet the top of Sonic's head. It felt smooth, warm, and lifelike. My hand lead down to one of his arms, then his chest. I felt his heart pulsing.

"You are real...Oh my God…" I freaked. Sonic let out a little chuckle.

"Don't panic ok? It's not like I'm going to hurt you."

I made a chuckle as well. Then I teased: "Yeah, like a hedgehog would hurt me."

"Do you want me to do the same to you, like those mechs I destroyed earlier?" Sonic grinned. I laughed, and he did too.

I stood up once more, and I looked at the blue clear sky that was almost shrouded by the leafs in the trees.

"What does Eggman want with my brother?" I said quiet. Sonic lowered his head.

"Eggman always wants to try something new to control our world. When his plans fail, he tries to think of something better than the last plan. My friends and I destroyed his last experiment not that long ago. So, he must've thought or researched something fast. What he wants to do with your brother; I don't know. Did he say anything that he wanted from him?"

I looked down at Sonic's eyes.

"Yes he did. He said that he wanted something from _inside_ him."

"Inside him?" Sonic looked unsure at me. I nodded.

"Inside him…?" He repeated and placed his right fist by his mouth, in deep thought. Few minutes later, he looked back at me.

"I can't think of anything." The hedgehog did a nervous laugh. "But…"

He rushed and held me again, like before.

"…with us standing here, we will never get the answer. It's time for us to start an adventure, Courtney! Is that right?"

"Yeah." I made a little smile. "But I like Court better."

Sonic held me tight. "Alright, Court, Our journey starts—now!"

At the last word he'd spoken Sonic was already down halfway through the forest. I almost screamed, since he was going faster than the last time he had me.

"Slow down!" I wanted to say. But I wouldn't dare say it to the fastest creature alive.

I saw trees flying pass us with unstoppable speed. And Sonic dodged each tree, rock, and plant that blocked his path.

"Just to tell you, this is the fastest I've gone while carrying somebody." Sonic said with a proud tone.

I looked at the blue hedgehog, totally nervous. He saw me.

"But don't worry; I'm being extra careful."

I leaned my head close to Sonic's that I had done the night before, and closed my eyes shut.

"I believe you." I spoke seriously. I peeked a little with my eyes and saw Sonic smiling again.

"Thanks." He replied. And it wasn't long till he slowed down and stopped. We reached the end of the forest.

I looked ahead and saw huge green grassland, which seemed it can go on for miles. It had hills, bridges, springs, rings, and the huge attraction was the big corkscrew in the middle. Far away, I could see a huge lake of water with waterfalls in the distance.

"Green Hill Zone." Sonic and I said together. He looked at me surprised.

"How do you about this place?" Sonic asked serious.

"Um duh! I play your games!" I fooled with him. The hedgehog looked dumbfounded.

"Uh, yeah..right."

I couldn't help but giggle. He there looked at me, embarrassed, and then the ground. Smirking at the sight of something.

"What is it?" I asked while I looked down, curious, to see what he was smirking at.

It was a speed ramp.

And it was at the edge of a huge hill that we're standing on. I looked down the hill and saw it was really steep. _My God…_

"Um…are we going—"

"You betcha!" He stepped on the ramp, and down we went.

Yes, I screamed. It felt like it was the beginning of one big roller coaster.

"Fun isn't it?" Sonic said cheery.

"For you: yes. Me: no!"

Sonic made another smile. "It's something you'll have to get used to when you're the fastest creature in this world. Me being fast makes me feel soo alive…It feels like this world belongs to me whenever I run."

_His World…_

That was the first thing that popped into my head when Sonic was explaining. It made me forget how scared I was at the moment, and I sung the song in my head happily while Sonic passed through all the obstacles.

"Corkscrew time!" I heard Sonic say; and I looked ahead and saw the big circular thing ahead of us.

I was scared…again.

I hurriedly wrapped my arms around Sonic tightly, and he tightened his grip on me as well as he begun to run around the loop.

"WHOO!!" Sonic said while he gotten to the top. And he rushed till he got at the end of the corkscrew, with a slow stop.

"Wasn't that great?!" The blue hedgehog asked me with full excitement. I didn't know how much excitement and thrill I can take from him. He let me down, carefully.

"It was…alright." I scratched the back of my head. "I still need to get used to your world. Remember, beings like me don't live in a cool fantasy world."

Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, I forgot you humans don't live in an exciting world like ours. I won't put you through any more running for today. If that's ok?"

"It's fine." I smiled. "I wouldn't mind if we took for another spin later. I have to get use to it now, or later."

"That's the sprit!" Sonic raised his hand. I looked at it, and then I hit his hand softly.

"C'mon! I know you can hit harder than that!" Sonic urged. "Hit me hard, I won't get hurt."

There, I smacked his hand roughly.

"Haha! That's what I'm looking for!" And then he quickly, yet softly, grabbed the middle of my right arm.

"Well, since we're down here, let's see if Tails is around. He's often hanging around here sometimes."

"Ok." I quickly replied. As me and Sonic were walking around, I heard a voice far behind.

"SONIC!!!" The voice called in the most girlish yet annoying way possible.

Oh God, don't tell me that I'm going to meet her already…I rather don't want to meet her at all.

"C'mon Court, we've better hide quickly." Sonic whispered to me. He sounded nervous.

And there; we rushed to look for a hiding spot. A _good_ hiding spot…


	4. Amy’s Rage and Tails’s Discussion

Chapter 4 Amy's Rage and Tails's Discussion

"SONIC!!!" Amy Rose was calling again. She was getting near.

Sonic rashly lead me behind a wall of the same corkscrew that we've been on earlier, and leaned against it. The hedgehog quickly inhaled the air around him nervously as we heard the stalkers footsteps.

_Amy Rose…a Sonic character who is at the end of my favorite characters list._

We continued to hear more and more footsteps, this time, heading closer to us. Sonic inhaled more quickly, destroying the silence. I placed my hand in front of his mouth, and now took the place in leading. This time we hid at the front of the corkscrew.

"Gotcha now, my darling Sonic!" I heard Amy say. Despite of not seeing him in our last hiding spot, we've heard her say; "What!? I could've sworn…"

I couldn't help myself but giggle. I tried to kept it in, but it somewhat got out of me.

"Sonic?" I heard Amy say, and heard her footsteps getting faster and closer to us.

I panicked and didn't know where to go to now. There Sonic took my place and quickly hid behind a hill nearby. He turned to me and whispered;

"Thanks for saving me back there."

I gave him a smile. "Anytime."

"Sonic! SONIC!" Amy kept on saying, and she ran everywhere, continually to look everywhere in sight.

"I have the feeling that we're not safe." I whispered.

"SONIC! YOU CAN NOT HIDE FROM ME! I WILL NOT LEAVE TILL I FIND YOU!!!"

"Kinda figured." Sonic replied.

"What should we do now? We can't hide and sit the rest of the day until she leaves."

Sonic made a sigh and got up from his sitting place. Then he began to walk out in an open area. I quickly tugged him back before he even got spotted.

"Are you crazy?!" I whispered harshly.

"Well what else can we do? She'll find us anyway." Sonic said as he shook off my hand off his arm. But I quickly grabbed it back, and stood alongside him.

"I won't make you suffer Amy alone; despite that I really don't want to meet her."

Sonic looked at me, confused. "Are you sure?"

I gave him a nod. "Positive."

I stood by Sonic, watching the pink stalker search around the place. Since the airhead didn't bother looking behind, Sonic made a fake cough. And there she turned, with a big happy cheerful smile on her face.

"SONIC!!!!!!"

_Ugh…_

Only two seconds, she was on the guy. Hugging, cuddling, you name it.

Sonic looked like he was going to die of suffocation.

"Sonic, Sonic, Sonic! I missed you soo much!" Amy squealed with joy. "I didn't know if I was going to make it!"

"Amy…" Sonic talked through her grip of her deathly hug. "We saw…each other…yesterday."

"I KNOW! But I can't survive with you, Sonic darling!" Amy squeezed harder, making Sonic choke.

"Amy…" Sonic struggled.

"Oh whoops!" Amy released him and did a girly giggle. "Sorry!"

Sonic fell to the ground, coughing, and gasped for air. Amy turned around and saw me.

"Who are you?" Her tone switched. "And what are you doing with _my_ Sonic?"

"_Your_ Sonic?" I was mad at her already. "He's not your possession!"

"Oh yes he is!" Amy argued. "Ever since I met him on that glorious day!" She held her hands together and looked up at the sky, daydreaming of her flashback.

"He said: 'Amy I shall be yours forever, and in the future we shall get married.'. And then I replied; 'I'll be the best girlfriend and wife you'll ever had!'"

"That didn't happen!" Sonic jerked up and pointed at her. "When I rescued you from Eggman, I said; 'Be safe.'. I don't recall saying any of that!"

"But I love you, Sonic!" Amy gave him the puppy eyes. Sonic turned around, trying not to get pitied by her sadness.

After awhile, she growled and pointed at me.

"You love her do you?!" She roared. "She was with you! So you love her!"

"What the—No! Amy, me and her are partners! Not lovers!"

"I don't believe it!" She quickly turned back on me and revealed her huge hammer behind her back. Her Piko Piko.

"I don't even want to hear your lies! I'm gonna pound you like a nail in the ground!" After she spoke, she rammed down her big hammer towards me.

I quickly jumped out of the way and rammed into the grass, away from her. _BANG!_

As I looked back I saw her hammer was three inches deep in the ground. But she picked the hammer back up like it was no big deal, and charged right at me.

"NO ESCAPING ME!" she roared loud.

As much I wanted to fight her back, I couldn't. I quickly got up and begun to run away from the madwoman. That is till Sonic stepped in Amy's way.

"Stop Amy! Enough!" Sonic yelled serious, and spreaded his arms out. "If you hurt Courtney, you hurt me too."

Amy, who still held her rage, dropped her Piko Piko down and quickly surrendered to her false-boyfriend.

"Why?" The pink hedgehog began to sob. "Why do you love her!?"

Sonic sighed and looked at Amy seriously.

"For the second time Amy, me and Court are not lovers, we're _partners_. I'm still single. Even though I wouldn't be caught dead being your boyfriend…." Sonic mumbled the last sentence. "Please Amy; all I spoke is the truth."

Amy sniffled. "Really?"

Sonic slowly nodded.

"Ok…I trust you…" Then Amy turned to me. "But I don't trust _her_."

She bent down and picked her hammer, held it on her shoulder, blew a kiss to Sonic, and she left. While she walked, I saw her look back at me with a poisonous glare. I gave her back the same treatment.

_I'll get her…one day…_

"Well we survived a hurricane named Amy—Thank goodness for that—and now, we shall continue our search for Tails." Sonic looked back at me, smiling again.

"Are you sure that he's here? I mean, it's almost sundown and we could've saw him by now." I looked at him confused. But then I looked around and realized that Green Hill Zone is not that small of a place.

"Heh, don't worry. With a fast thing like me around, we'll find him."

"Sonic!" I heard a worried voice calling in the air. Me and Sonic looked up in and saw a little fox flying through the wind with his two propeller-like tails. It looks like we didn't have to search after all.

"Tails!" Sonic said cheerfully and waved at his best friend.

The two-tailed fox landed quickly in front of us and looked directly at Sonic, nervous.

"Sonic, are you alright? I heard a huge 'Bang!' somewhere, and I thought somebody was fighting you!"

"Oh don't worry bud, it was just Amy. She wasn't trying to hurt me this time though, she was trying to hurt my partner over there." Sonic looked at me, along with Tails.

"Tails, this is Court. Her and I are going to be working together till we find her brother, who was kidnapped by Dr. Eggman."

"Hi Court! Nice to meet you!" Me and Tails shook hands. "My name is Miles Prower. But just call me Tails! It's cool to meet new friends of Sonic's."

"It's nice to meet you too." I made a cheerful smile.

"Hey, is Court from Soleanna?" Tails asked Sonic. But Sonic shook a no; his face kinda saddened a bit.

"What's wrong Sonic?" I asked my partner, a little worried. But he ignored me.

"No, Tails. Court is from another human world."

Tails made a slow nod. "Oh ok." Sonic looked at him seriously.

"Tails, stay and talk with Court for a little bit. I'll be back."

"Oh, alright Sonic." Tails looked worried as I was. After three seconds Sonic dashed off like a rocket, going through every obstacle in Green Hill Zone.

"Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Soleanna…" Tails said guilty.

"Hey it wasn't your fault. He's like this because of Elise, right?" I said, now understanding why Sonic's sad face. Tails popped up his head at me, shocked.

"How do know about that!? Did Sonic tell you!?"

I shook. "Well no, not exactly…" Tails tilted his head, confused.

_Well…I guess I'll have to explain everything._

* * *

I told everything to Tails, like I told Sonic. Unlike him; Tails kept his shock to a minimum. But he kinda thought it was cool that in our world we had bunches of Sonic games with him in it. Then I discussed about my brother issue, asking him if he'll want to help us.

"Well yeah! Of course I'll help!" Tails answered happily. "There was never a time that I didn't help Sonic and his friends."

"Well that's good." I said in the same happy tone as Tails. Then I switched the subject again.

"About Elise…" I softly said. "Did Sonic…well…have a soft spot for her?"

Tails's happy face was replaced to a sorrowful one.

"You can say that, but it's not just her. With every friend Sonic meets far away, or in a different world; he ends up not seeing them again. He doesn't like being reminded or talking about his lost friendships."

"I wonder if he's alright." I said quietly.

"Yeah, but that's what happens when you're Sonic. When you are on an adventure to save the world and that somebody fought along-side him, he doesn't want to break away from a special bond." Tails explained.

"I know you just got here, but just be warned whenever you head back home. Just looking at Sonic smiling, standing there, before you walk away…you can tell that he's falling apart in the inside."

I thought for a little bit, feeling pity for Sonic. It must have been hard for him, repeating the same cycle whenever he meets someone new, bond, fight along-side, then leave. I knew what Sonic's face looked like…whenever he departed from someone. I saw it mostly in the last scene in the games. I don't want to face through that at the end of our adventure.

"I'm back!" Sonic announced cheery from behind, scaring us.

"Sonic!" Me and Tails said together. We looked back and saw Sonic with three chili dogs in his hands. He walked and handed one for Tails and one for me.

"I thought you were going out for a run?" I asked him confusingly.

Sonic laughed. "I did, silly. I ran to get the chili dogs for me and you two. You must be hungry since you didn't eat since you were back at your world."

I was too surprised, scared, and thoughtful before, that I didn't realize I was hungry. I looked at the chili dog that Sonic gave me, and took a little bite.

"Good isn't it." Sonic grinned at me before he ate the last bite of his chili dog.

"Yep." I grinned. Not because of the food, but that Sonic's smile appeared on his face again.

Nearby, a stranger was watching from the shadows….


	5. Caught by a Shadow

**AN: This may have a few errors in it, I didn't proof-read since my friend wanted this up soon. It took me two days and I finally finished it! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5 Caught by a Shadow

The next day, Sonic, Tails, and I kinda took things slow. We were walking around Green Hill Zone discussing on our plans to do on our journey. While we walked, I could've sworn somebody was following us. I heard sounds behind me. But Sonic and Tails didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, what if Knuckles came along? I can tell him the situation of Court's, and he's bound to come!" Tails told Sonic excitedly, waving his arms. Sonic looked at his buddy and lowered his head.

"Don't you think that he's guarding the Master Emerald? I don't want to bother the guy to come on another adventure…"

"Awww!" Tails moaned. I walked up by Sonic.

"Please Sonic! I bet Knuckles can get a guy to replace his job while he's gone. Please! Knuckles is one of my favorite characters! I want to meet him!" I pleaded the blue hedgehog. Sonic looked down while he walking. He was in deep thought.

"Yeah! Why not? I always like to pick on Knuckles, anyways. Tails, you know what to do!" Sonic made a wink at the two-tailed fox. Tails cheered, jumped, and begun to fly in the air.

"I'll be back in a day guys! Be safe!" And then Tails flew off into the big periwinkle sky. Sonic and I watched till we couldn't see him in the sky any longer, then we begun walking again.

"Ok, I got a plan." Sonic said to me. "We need to gather up the seven Chaos Emeralds. With them, we can destroy Eggman's scheme and boom! We rescued your brother."

"Do you have any idea were the gems are located?" I asked. Sonic made a shrug then he made one of his famous grins of his.

"That's what makes the adventure fun, right? Besides, without the Chaos Emeralds we would be no match for Eggman. He gets stronger every time I face him."

"Yeah, but still…" I said in a soft whisper. Sonic shook his head at my sight.

"You know, I used to have few friends on my previous journeys that thought anything wasn't possible. But please, just smile. That's what I always told my friend, Elise. If you don't worry; things will get better. I'll promise you that."

I didn't smile. I don't want to stay in this world _too_ long, my parents are probably worried-sick by now. And I bet they're probably mad that they have to pay for repairs for our house. But still, worried! I want hurry up with this, but yet I don't. I always wanted to see all of the Sonic characters (not Amy…ugh), and this world for real. I want to enjoy this time.

I noticed Sonic held up his right hand to me with his pinky up.

"You're joking right?" I shook my head in disbelief. "Pinky promises are kid stuff."

"Nobody is too old for promises though." He made a kind-hearted smile. "Well, are we going to seal the promise or what?"

I stood there for a few seconds, thinking. Then giggled and I entangled his pinky with his.

"See…Now I can't break the promise." He winked at me, like he did with Tails.

"I guess you're right." I made a small smile.

After that, we heard rustling in the plants nearby me and flinched backwards. Before I said anything, Sonic just appeared in front of me, arms stretched.

"It might be one of Eggman's spies…who knows with him." Sonic said, and then he turned his head to me. "I think that you should go hide somewhere nearby, I don't want you getting hurt or caught. Remember last time?"

"Yeah." I understood. And I turned around and quickly tried to find a place to hide. There were the palm trees. No, they were too skinny.

I looked around more and found that I can hide below the level of ground that I standing on. I jumped down, being careful not to hurt myself, sat down and rested on the side of the top layer.

"Heh, think you can hide from me?" I heard Sonic from above. I just hope he'll be alright. Psh, what am I saying? He's Sonic! He'll take care of it soon.

_I wish I could help…_

"Soo…you must be the sister that Eggman had mentioned." I heard a voice. It was deep and mysterious. I remember hearing that tone…that sound of the voice.

Fright made me stand back up again. I turned my head left to right, and saw nothing but grass, plants, water, and obstacles. It was nothing but landscape.

"Hmph! I don't know why the Doctor sees you as a threat, but no matter. He'll give me my desire…"

It all happened soo fast.

After the last sentence the voice spoke; I almost yelled Sonic's name, and something covered my mouth and I was out black. And I didn't see anybody or anything coming toward me.

Minutes or maybe even hours later, I slowly opened my eyes and saw I was deep inside another forest, and I felt being carried again. I saw that I was being carried fast because the wind brushed through my face and hair again. Did Sonic save me?

"Sonic?" I mumbled soft. My head turned to the direction of my carrier, and I found out it wasn't Sonic at all. He was midnight black, had crimson stripes on his arms, legs, and at the top of his quills. Had two gold rings on his wrists, had a fluffy white chest…

_Shadow!_

I just had to smile. I was in the arms of my favorite Sonic character. Did he save me from the voice? Wait…

Deep and mysterious, that was his voice! But why is he taking me to Dr. Eggman? Why is he following his orders? What was the desire that he wanted? I have to ask questions.

"Are you Shadow the Hedgehog?" I asked shyly. I knew that he was, but I wanted to hear him say his name. I couldn't help it!

No response.

I blinked a few times, wondering if he'd heard me. I was about to ask something else till he answered late.

"Yes, I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate lifeform. If you even think of trying to escape me, you'll be facing the same darkness again." He said darkly.

I looked at Shadow, trustworthy. "I wasn't thinking about escaping."

"Good. Now stay quiet." He commanded me. There he began to speed faster; I could hear the sounds of his skates.

"I have questions." I told the black and crimson hedgehog. "And I want answers."

"Didn't I tell you to stay slient?" He growled. But I ignored him.

"Why are you helping Dr. Eggman?" I wanted to know, curiously. "If you help with his plans, then the world will be in ruins! Do you want to live in a destroyed world?!"

"It doesn't matter to me. As long as I get what I want, I'm fine." Shadow answered serious. He didn't look at me once. He just kept his eyes glued to the road.

Silence overtook us for awhile till I knew what to ask him next. I looked up at Shadow, again.

"What is the thing that you want...your desire?"

"That's none of your concern!" Shadow looked and snapped at me, full in anger. "Speak to me again, and I'll knock you out for hours!"

Didn't bother to ask him again…I turned away to face back of the road, thinking to myself. I wasn't scared, or mad. Just confused. What did Shadow desire for him to go off and help Eggman? I guess it had to be something special to him.

"Court!" I heard a hyperactive voice above the forest. I already knew who it is.

"Sonic?" I spoke his name in a question, but shouldn't. Because I know he always rescues the damsel in distress. I feel soo helpless…

He dropped down like a rock through the trees, making some branches and leafs fall when he passed through. He rushed by Shadow.

"Hey, I think you've stolen a friend of mine. Mind if I have her back?" Sonic joked around with him. Shadow growled furiously.

"You of all places!" He yelled. Then he mumbled the word 'Faker' under his breath.

"Heard that!" Sonic chuckled. "If you don't give her back, I'll go hard on ya!"

"Is that so?" Shadow said with a smirk on his face.

Suddenly, I was held on with his left arm. Shadow used his other one to reveal something from behind his back.

It was a green Chaos Emerald!

"Chaos Control!" Shadow shouted and then, we surprisingly teleported right behind Sonic.

"Hey!" Sonic stopped running and turned around to face the black and red hedgehog.

"There's something that always bugs me…" Sonic started and he walked closely to us. "Why do you always use a green Chaos Emerald? And why do you find a Chaos Emerald quickly right after all seven separate?"

"Because green is my favorite color! And I have no time for your questions!" Shadow answered as he raised the Chaos Emerald above his head, glowing bright.

"The faster I take this sister to that powerful child to Eggman, the faster I'll get my wish. Good luck trying to rescue her. Because if you decide to collect all the Chaos Emeralds out there, you'll be missing one out of seven." Shadow shook the Emerald in his hand.

"Sayonara Sonic!" Shadow laughed.

The Emerald glowed brighter. Shadow was ready to teleport again.

"Not soo fast!" I saw Sonic run, like I never saw since I been here. He almost looked invisible. He jumped and kicked the Emerald out of Shadow's hand, and quickly took me back.

"Sonic!" I surprisingly looked at him.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." My eyes were wide, still shocked at the creature that can run faster than the speed of sound.

"For now on, I'm being by your side. I'm never going to make a mistake—"

Before Sonic finished, Shadow punched Sonic directly in the face and made me fell to the dirty ground. Shadow there grabbed the injured Sonic and pushed him up against a tree, holding a deathly grip on the top part of his chest.

"You want the test the ultimate lifeform? Huh!? Then come on! Fight me! Fight me you speed demon!"

"Shadow! Stop!" I screamed. Shadow looked back at me with a glare. But that didn't stop me.

I slowly got up and ran to the two hedgehogs. I placed two of my hands, in-between them, and tried to pull. But Shadow pushed me away with his free arm. I fell onto the ground once more.

"Stay where you are! You human!" Shadow growled again.

"No!" I struggled to get back up. "Did you suddenly forget that promise!? The promise _she_ made?"

Shadow slowly softened the grip on Sonic, and he looked at me again, but shock in replace of anger.

I continued.

"She told you that you were created to protect the living things in this world. Not to cause harm to them…if she saw you now, what would you say? How would you react?"

Shadow let go of Sonic and made him fall down to the roots of the tree, forgetting him. The black and red hedgehog walked up to me, slowly, his shocked face still in place.

"Who are you?...And how do you know about her and her promise? Have you met _her_? _Maria_? Is she here? _Now_?!"

I just stared at the shock on the hedgehog's face. You can just tell that he and Maria were really close. I even saw tears in his surprised eyes. He loved her.

But why did he say that Maria is here? She couldn't be alive.

"No, she died fifty years ago. Do you remember? She got shot on the ark by the G.U.N. soldiers. Do you still believe she's still alive?"

Shadow looked like he was going to say something, but instead he slowly reached for me. But suddenly Sonic sped in and prevented it. He stood in front and held his arms out like the last time.

"Sonic!" I said angrily.

"I'm not taking any chances." He told me, and then he spoke to Shadow.

"I didn't expect any of this behavior with you, now anyway. Why are you teaming up with Eggman again? Did you somehow decide that you want the world to be yours too!?" Sonic asked loudly. Shadow lowered his head.

"No, it's not that…it's…" Shadow stopped and shook his head as a no. Then he looked at me, in wonder, and then Sonic, normally.

"It's…it's nothing." He finished. The hedgehog slowly backed away a few inches and bent down to get his dropped Chaos Emerald. He grabbed it, made it glow, and yelled 'Chaos Control!'. And he teleported and was gone.

"I worry about that guy sometimes." Sonic lowered his eyes. "If he didn't want the world, what does he want?"

"I'm not certain…" I said sadly. "But he looked sad. You could at least let him touch me."

"Right after he kidnapped you!? And you're also forgetting that he punched me in the face! And that he pushed you…" Sonic listed.

"Yes, I know." I made him stop and switched the subject, to make him happier. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." The blue hedgehog rubbed his right cheek. "But I can still feel where he punched me."

I bent down to him and touched his cheek. Then I felt the other one to see if the other is swollen. It was, but only a little.

"I'm—"

"Don't say it!" Sonic covered his ears. "Not the 'S' word! It's wasn't your fault!"

"Ok! Ok!" I waved my arms. "I won't say it!"

"Good." Sonic smiled and unleashed his ears.

"Did you ever find out who was hiding in the plants?" I just remembered. "Was it Shadow?"

"Oh yeah! I need to tell you this!" Sonic perked up. "Nope, it wasn't Shadow. But what I did find was a guy! A human, like you!"

I froze. "Huh? There was a guy following us!? What did he look like?"

"Not sure, he just ran off after we saw each other. But what I did see is that he was wearing a black and white shirt, baggy tan shorts, and his hair was short and brown."

"Did you go after him?" I asked again. Sonic shook.

"I would have, but I heard something behind me. And I ran and saw that you were gone."

"Oh." I nodded.

_Was that guy my friend, Dylan?...I don't know. How would he know where the portal is? It's close by my house, and he doesn't even know where that is! Maybe it's another person. It can't be him…_

"Whatcha thinking about?" Sonic said interrupting my thoughts. He smirked at me.

"Nothing." I answered quickly.

"It doesn't look like 'Nothing.'" He continued to smirk.

"Alright!" I shouted. "I was thinking about a friend of mine. He might be the guy that you saw. I could understand if he's here, since he's your number one fan."

Sonic blinked. "I have a number one fan?" I made a short laugh.

"Yeah, he's the only person I know who almost owns all of your games. He worships you." I laughed again.

"Wow…a number one fan, huh? Tell me, is he annoying as Amy?"

"No. Sometimes, but no." I replied.

"Ok! Before we go on about this, let's head back to Green Hill Zone. It's almost dark." Sonic said as he pointed at the sky. Yep, he was right.

Once I was settled in his arms, Sonic sped throughout the forest, heading back to our resting place.


	6. Training with Knuckles

Chapter 6 Training with Knuckles

"Hmm…that Dylan guy seems like a guy I can get along with!" Sonic said all hyped up. Me and Sonic were on top end of the corkscrew in Green Hill Zone. This was our last spot that we've rested last time. I thought it was kinda weird to sleep here, but Sonic told me he likes resting up here. He said that you can see all the stars in the sky. I looked and saw the stars were no different than the ones back in my world. But the moon here was huge though.

"Yeah…" I made a short laugh. "You and him will be like BFFs."

"You may be right about that." Sonic grinned and started to look up at the diamond sky. "But…"

"But what?" I wondered and looked at Sonic.

"You're good BFF material too. It's not like partners can't be friends. I liked being with you since day one." He explained truthfully.

"Yeah, me being afraid and nervous sounds like _good_ reasons to be friends."

"I would expect that from any person on their first visit here. But aside that, I think you're awesome!" Sonic held his right thumb up.

"Huh?" I looked at him weirdly. I wasn't awesome. Who would call me that?

"You lead me away from Amy when I was stiff with worry, and when you tried to separate Shadow from me. You really know what to do in tough situations, Court, and I think that's awesome! I never met a girl like you."

I blushed when I looked at him, then I quickly turned away.

"Maybe it's because I'm an older sister. I just used to protecting my little brothers when my parents aren't around, and breaking up their fights. I guess I got my courage from that." I told the blue hedgehog.

"I wouldn't see why not. You must be a good sister to them." Sonic smiled.

"Yeah, but I sometimes be mean to them, and sometimes they're mean to me…We argue, goof around when we shouldn't. It doesn't sound like a good sister there…" I started. Then I suddenly switched subject.

"Me and Kyle are like buddies, even if we fight and have our liking differences. But I miss him, and…and I hope he's ok and not in pain. I didn't like seeing him scared on that night when he was kidnapped. It just…just makes me…" I started to tear up. I didn't even finish my sentence.

Sonic suddenly grabbed me and hugged me tight. And I felt one of his gloved hands rubbing my head in a soft pattern while I cried.

"Courtney…" Sonic softly whispered to me. "Don't worry, ok? I promised you that. Leave the worrying to me if it makes you feel better. If Eggman does hurt your brother, I swear I'll make him pay…"

I continued to weep, and I tried soo hard not to. I felt like a little kid whenever I cried, it makes me feel soo weak than strong.

"And you are a good sister. If not, you wouldn't be crying now would you?"

"No…" Teardrops kept falling down my face.

"Another promise..." Sonic started rubbing his fingers in my hair gently, calming me. "I'll always be by your side and to help you. I won't leave till your brother is safe."

I knew he was going to say that, but he made me feel better when he spoke it. His rubbing method continued, and it successfully made me calmer. My crying stopped.

"Thanks." I said quietly, as Sonic released me as I sat up again. I feel awkward now; I just spent five or more minutes hugging a hedgehog.

"Aren't we going to seal the promise?" Sonic joked and revealed his pinky finger again.

"Do we have to do this every time we make a promise?"

Sonic quickly nodded. "Yep!"

I made a hopeless sigh and I entangled my pinky with his, once more.

* * *

The next morning, Sonic and I were sitting around waiting for Tails and Knuckles to appear. We were sitting next to one of the bridges of Green Hill Zone, listening to soothing sound of the waterfall that was near to it. I was smiling, excited.

"What are you smiling about?" Sonic gave me another one of his smirks.

"I can't wait for Knuckles to get here! He's my third favorite character!"

"_Really_?" Sonic raised his left eye. "Who's your first?"

"Shadow!" I announced proudly. Sonic's eye twitched now.

"W-What!?! What about me!" Suddenly Sonic was there in front of me, waving his arms fast. "Who's second!?"

"You, of course." I said cheerfully. Sonic fakily cried.

"After all I did to save you, you place me second! Why Shadow!? He took you away and pushed you, and he punched me!"

"You know, Shadow's not always my favorite. Sometimes it's either him or you. I can't decide on you both for some reason." I smiled again.

"Liar…" Sonic pouted. I got up and bent down to his level, and gave the speedy blue hedgehog a friendly hug.

"If I've hugged you, does it mean I'm a liar?"

Sonic turned his head to me and I saw him blush a bunch. "Heheh…I guess not."

"Sonic!" Both of us heard a young and a tough voice. I released Sonic and stood up by him. There in the distance, we saw Tails flying aside with a running red echidna. It was Knuckles!

"Hey Knucklehead!" Sonic waved. "Long time, no see!"

Knuckles shook his head whenever he and Tails reached us.

"We saw each other not that long ago."

"Yeah, I know." Sonic grinned as he placed his arms around his back. Knuckles shook his head again, irritated by his friend/rival. He looked at me next.

"Soo, you must be this Court girl I heard from Tails. Your brother got kidnapped huh? Well when I face Eggman, he's going to get through a lot of pain to cause such huge worry from a lady like you." Knuckles punched his white gloves together.

"Uh, thanks!" I made a smile to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you Knuckles; I was hoping that'll meet you soon. And I'm really happy that we met."

Knuckles eyes went wide. "Wait you've heard about me?" I nodded.

"Yes you, Knuckles." I continued to smile. "You were born from Angel Island. And that you're the last survivor of the Echidna people who inhabited there. Your job there is to guard the Master Emerald, to make sure nobody steals it for its power."

"How do you…" Knuckles had that wondering expression like Shadow had. Tails walked up to him.

"Knuckles, Court knows all this because there are video games in her world with all of us in them. In the games, they explain everything about us. I know it's strange, but it's kinda interesting too. For her to know about us…"

Knuckles understood. "Oh, I see…" Then he faced me again.

"I wish I've said the same to you, but there aren't any video games here with you in them." He scratched his head and laughed nervously.

"Now _that_ would be weird." Sonic said, pointing at Knuckles. "By the way, did you get a guy to do your job while you're gone?"

"No…" Knuckles growled. "Because nobody wants my job! And I won't blame them! It's boring as hell!"

And there, a strange silence took over us till Sonic spoke again, making Knuckles even more ticked.

"Well, are we ready to start training?" He walked over to us.

"Training!?" Knuckles said surprised. "You made me come here soo we can train!? Do you know that girl's brother might be suffering as we speak!? We have no time to fool around Sonic!"

"Chill Knucks." Sonic waved his hands at him, trying to make the red echidna to calm down a notch. "You know that Eggman doesn't plan ahead as much, and it wouldn't hurt if we trained a little."

"NO! Eggman does plan ahead! Don't try to make this soo dandy, Sonic! I have no time for this, soo if you all need me, I'll be on ahead!" Knuckles started to march away.

"No, please wait!" I yelled, and caught up to the red echidna. I quickly grabbed a grip of his right arm and made him stop. Knuckles turned around and looked at me with a surprised face.

There I quickly let go of him, and said my fast sentences of sorrys.

"Hey! Hey! It's fine!" Knuckles said, trying to make me less worried. "I'm not going to punch ya. Never even my life did I punch a girl—well maybe Rouge—but still!"

"Alright…" I said, kinda giggling throughout. "But please, it won't hurt much if we did train for a few minutes before we leave. Plus, I want to see your attacks. Would you mind if I helped you train?"

Knuckles blushed a lot, like what Sonic did earlier. He'd given me a shy smile.

"O-Ok. And yeah, you can help me."

The red echidna slowly started to walk away to the middle of Green Hill Zone. There, big boulders and rocks lay and roamed in the grass. The perfect object for training Knuckles.

"I was thinking of you to help me train, but I don't want ask him if we can share. He gets mad easily." Sonic chuckled as he walked alongside me, heading for the middle of this grassy hill plain.

"But luckily I got Tails. Just be safe around Knucks, ok Court? I don't want you getting punched."

"I'll be fine, Sonic." I told him. "I don't just stand there and be helpless all the time. I dodged whenever Amy tried to slam her hammer at me, and I'm sure that I will dodge from Knuckles's punches."

"But _you_ didn't dodge whenever Shadow took you away." Sonic looked unsure at me.

"It was not like I let him take me!" I yelled. "I was too busy thinking what voice was speaking to me when I was hiding, before I got caught by him."

"Admit it. You just want to be captured by your _first _favorite."

"Sonic! That's not true!" I yelled in anger.

Sonic playfully laughed and quickly ran by Tails, who was waiting for him on flat grassland away from the rocks where I was heading. Knuckles saw my face whenever I approached him.

"Sonic can be irritating, does he?" He crossed his arms, understanding how I felt now. I sighed.

"I'll forgive him anyways…Alright, what do you want me to do?"

"I got an idea, but first let me warm up. Heh, ready to see what I can do?" Knuckles smirked.

"Yeah! I can't wait!" I almost squealed.

"Ok, here I go!" Knuckles excitedly ran toward to the huge rocks. With a swift of one his fists, a rock was demolished. Then he went over to the next rock and done a completely different move. He pounded his fists, he stabbed, punched etc. But the best part was when he jumped and rocketed down to one rock, destroyed it continued down underground. And as the rock next the destroyed one moved, Knuckles popped out and broke it when he was heading out. He finished his warm ups with an awesome landing.

"God Knuckles, that was incredible!" I cheered him. "Way better seeing it in real life!"

Knuckles did a short laugh. "Thanks! I did every possible move that I know. Ready for my idea?"

I quickly nodded.

Knuckles grabbed some of the biggest boulders that he didn't crumble yet. One by one he placed all the six remaining in a big circle. Then he went in the middle of the circle of boulders, and he nodded at me to come closer.

"Ok, this method is simple really. Never did it, but it's worth a try." Knuckles revealed a white cloth behind his back and placed it in front of his eyes and tied it on the back. He was blindfolded.

"I want you to hide behind one of these boulders, and say something to me like an insult. I on the other hand, will get mad and to try to find your voice and punch the boulder that you're hiding from. If I'm about to hit you, scream or yell 'Stop!' got it, Court?"

"Yeah."

"Oh and one more thing, try to make this hard on me. After all it's training, I need to improve myself." Knuckles pointed out at the last minute.

I laughed. "Alright. Ready Knucks?"

"Yep, start…now!"

I quickly yet quietly moved to the opposite boulder I was behind of. When I reached that boulder, I said teasingly:

"Oh! It's the Master Emerald! I can't wait to steal it!"

"Rraaahhh!" Knuckles was charging from where I was at. I dashed to a different boulder after he crushed the one that I was behind before.

"I'm still going to steal it!" I made a giggle. The red echidna begun to growl deep.

"No way!" Knuckles charged again. The method continued on and on…

"I got it! You can't get me!" I said as I almost reached to another boulder. I looked inside of the circle, and saw Knuckles was getting tired. His gloves were resting on his knees, catching breath.

I made another laugh as I suddenly saw a glimpse of something move in the distance. There was somebody behind one of the sides of that corkscrew ahead. Below I could see a shadow of that figure, a human-shaped shadow.

_Dylan?_

"You're MINE!" Knuckles yelled at the top of his lungs, hearing him close and charging fast. He was already close to me; too late to run now.

Before I got the chance to scream or yell 'Stop!' a blue blur caught me out of my situation. As we've stopped, I looked and saw that Sonic saved me. No surprise. He looked at me in worry.

"Courtney? Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." I answered, angry at myself for getting distracted. I felt like a weakling.

Sonic's emotions changed whenever he helped me up, looked and walked toward Knuckles. The red echidna took off his blindfold in wonder, wondering why he hit nothing but air. When he took it off, he saw a mad hedgehog in front of him.

"What were you thinking!?" Sonic yelled. "You were about to punch Court's head off!"

Knuckles looked at Sonic blankly, then me, then him again.

"You can't be serious! I would never—"

"You were getting close!"

"You're getting close for me to punch your head off!"

While they argued, I ran to the corkscrew to see if that person was still hiding on that one side. But as I finally reached there and looked behind, there was nothing.

_It couldn't be Dylan. If it was, he wouldn't be hiding from us. But, if it isn't him…who can it be?_

"Court!" I heard Sonic and Knuckles's call. They came up to me by the corkscrew.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked, curious.

I turned to face them. "I saw a shadow whenever I was training Knuckles. That's why I didn't pay attention and almost got hit. But anyways, I saw a shadow. It was human shaped."

"Oh, soo he's been hiding here. I bet he's too scared to come out and introduce himself." Sonic smirked and shook his head.

"Who's 'he'?" Knuckles asked, confusingly. Sonic looked at him.

"Possibly Courtney's friend. I saw a human like her yesterday before she got taken, but when I was about to face him, he just ran away." The blue hedgehog looked at me weirdly. "Are you sure that he's your friend?"

"I'm not sure." I looked at the ground, thinking to myself. "If it was him, then he wouldn't be hiding. If he seen me, then he would've came out earlier."

Knuckles stood still looking at the ground like me, thinking. Then suddenly he raised his head.

"Do you think he might be nearby?" He asked. Sonic and I both shrugged.

"Ok, then it's worth a try." Knuckles walked further away from us, with his gloves circled around his mouth.

"Hey! Whoever who's out there hiding, I'm going to beat the crap out of them!" He yelled. Sonic and I stared at Knuckles like he was a complete moron.

"Yeah…I'm sure he's bound to come out now." Sonic covered his face with one of his hands, embarrassed by his friend.

"I think that you're going to make him hide forever." I added, quietly.

"Well, I bet you don't have any better ideas!" Knuckles pointed at Sonic. But he just smirked again.

"Well, maybe I do. I could run and check this entire zone, which will…umm…probably take about five to ten minutes? But I _know_ that you want to leave quickly."

Knuckles growled. But before he got to make an angry reply, Tails flew in between his two best friends.

"Maybe I could check in the sky. It will only take about three minutes, that'll be enough time for me to look everywhere across the zone." Tails told us. Sonic smiled at the idea.

"Yeah, that'll work! Go check Tails!"

"Ok!" Then Tails flew up into the sky again. Way up. After we've waited for three minutes, the two-tailed fox flew back down with a sad look written upon his face.

"Didn't find him?" I asked.

Tails shook his head. "No. I'm sorry, Court. He must have hid in a spot that's really difficult for anybody to see. I'm really sorry."

"Its fine, Tails." I said, almost chipper. "If it's really him, and if I'll find him hiding somewhere, I'll just come after him. I won't mind playing a game of his." I looked up at the sky.

"But anyways, I shouldn't be worrying about a thing like this. My brother is captured, and we need to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds in order to destroy whatever Eggman's planning to stop us, or what he's planning on doing with my brother…I think it's time to leave, now." Suddenly I was picked up and carried.

"Alright, let's go! That training was useless anyways." Sonic said.

"HEY! That _training _was your idea!" Knuckles charged at Sonic, but Tails gotten a hold of the angry echidna.

"Please Knuckles, just let it go." Tails mumbled softly. Knuckles stopped struggling, stood, and made another glare at Sonic.

"Fine, but he's going to pay for that." He grumbled.

"Ok! Knuckles, Tails, Court…It's time to light up this candle!" Sonic said, grinning, ready to dash off and into the corkscrew we we're by. I looked behind and saw Tails and Knuckles were behind, both of them on each side of Sonic. It made us look like an arrow.

In the last five seconds, we were off running. We made our way through the corkscrew and into the path that will lead us to finding the seven Chaos Emeralds, and my captured brother.


	7. A Friend’s Sacrifice

Chapter 7 A Friend's Sacrifice

This is where I left off in my story. I was hedgehog now, unbelievable it was, but true. But it kinda made things easier for me. I didn't have to be carried anymore, I can keep up with Sonic while running, and I can fight. Being like this would make our adventure quick too, like what Sonic said.

After me and Sonic went through a corkscrew, Tails and Knuckles were waiting ahead. I guess they woken up from sleeping. They both looked surprised at me.

"Court is that you?" Knuckles said with his widened eyes. Tails eyes were like that too.

"Yeah, it's me." I said, looking at myself again. I was midnight black like Shadow was, and my long quills ended with violet at the ends. Everything about me was changed, except for my eye color and personality.

"Well I kinda expected that something like this would happen." Tails said. "If any human stays in our world too long, they'll turn into Mobians like us."

"Really?" Knuckles looked at Tails confused. The fox gave him a simple nod.

"Yeah, you see it's like this—"

"Are we ready to go!?" Sonic interrupted. He was crossing his arms and his right foot was tapping repeatedly.

"We can talk about this later. But as of right now, we need to start looking for the Chaos Emeralds. And also try to be close to Eggman's base."

Knuckles looked at the blue hedgehog angry, but he knew he was right. Both he and Tails nodded.

"Ok!" Sonic grabbed my hand once again and started to dash off without warning. Tails and Knuckles followed close behind.

I thought it was hard to keep up with the fastest creature alive, but Sonic held on to me as I ran aside him in my new speed. Not as fast, but enough to keep us near each other. It was funny how I'm running this quick and I don't have a drop of sweat on my face, and that I didn't want to stop. With me being like this, running didn't worn me out; it made me feel alive and free. Now I knew how Sonic felt when he ran.

"Doing alright?" Sonic asked me, making sure I was fine. I gave him a laugh.

"Heck yeah!" I sounded really happy. "I wouldn't mind if I was like this forever!"

Sonic grinned. I can tell by his smile that his up-burst excitement took control of his thoughts. "Ready for the ultimate speed?!"

"NO SONIC DON'T—" Tails and Knuckles screamed behind. I was going to say something too, but it was too late. Sonic was off in full speed in no more than a second.

It was now difficult to run aside the blue hedgehog now. I took steps here and there, but most of the time I was being dragged like a rag doll.

"Stop Sonic! I can't run fast as you!" I yelled at him. Sonic came to his senses and slowed down to my speeding range again. I gave the hedgehog a glare.

"Sorry I got out-of-control there." He looked ashamed. "I was just…well…happy that you liked being this way."

My glare softened. "You like me being this way? Why's that?"

It took awhile for the speedy hedgehog to answer, but I can understand why because we were dodging and jumping through all of these obstacles in the way.

"Well…" Sonic began. "…I always wanted a running buddy. Yes, I know sometimes Tails and Knucks sometimes run by me sometimes. But I like somebody who can go quicker than their pace. And you're a hedgehog now, so you're quick like me."

I can just tell that Sonic was lying about the whole 'running buddy' thing; I knew that he wanted to say something else. But I guess he was too chicken to say.

"How come Shadow, Silver, and Amy are not your 'running buddies'?" I listed the hedgehogs. I wanted to tease him, to make the blue hedgehog complain.

"Cause Shadow is sometimes a _jerk_, Silver lives in another _time_, and you know why Amy's not…" Sonic grumbled. I giggled.

"Since you think that Shadow's a _jerk_, I want to be his running buddy instead." I made a smirk.

"Oh! You did not just go there!" Sonic said surprised and angry. I continued to smirk.

"Yes I did."

"Well since we're running together…" Sonic made a smirk as well. "We are running buddies!"

"But I didn't accept you!"

"Who needs acceptation while we're running together now?"

I bet Tails and Knuckles were hearing our conversation from behind. If I looked back now, I think they're looking at us like we're weird.

But before we continued our strange argument, Sonic stopped suddenly. I was about to ask why, but I looked ahead and saw that a robot army was in our way. It was the same kind of robots that were in the front yard of my house. Eggman's robots.

"I think it's time to start a junk pile." I heard Knuckles say as he and Tails stopped behind us. Knuckles started to charge at the robots, but Sonic held out an arm to stop him.

"Let's be polite Knuckles, I'm sure they'll let us pass if we've asked." Sonic said, smiling. Knuckles grunted.

"Hey, mind if you guys stepped out of the way?" Sonic walked toward the robots. "We don't want to be late for Eggman's party."

The robots replied by holding their arms up, ready to fire.

"Oh…I see." Sonic nodded while his right fist was by his mouth. "Not invited are we? Well…" Sonic quickly jumped rolled into a ball, and then slammed himself into the first row and destroyed all the robots there.

"I'm sure Eggman wouldn't mind if we'd crashed it."

The robots that were behind the first row began to circle around Sonic. But the blue hedgehog just snickered.

"Ready to help out guys!? I sure need some help!"

"Heh, So much for the polite method!" Knuckles charged right at the mechs like a bull, and punched them out, to make a path.

"I never fought before." I said nervous, looking into the hundreds of robots. Tails turned to me.

"It's easy really, especially for a hedgehog." The fox smiled. "The simplest thing you can do is just turn yourself into a ball and ram into the enemy. Like what Sonic did, but do it on the ground."

"Like this?" I bent down, grabbed my legs, and started to roll.

"Yeah! Go faster Court, and you'll can run over more mechs!" Tails cheered on.

I followed Tails instructions and began to roll faster. I kinda felt dizzy, but while I rolled and span, I felt like I was knocking over a bunch things in my path. It was working!

When I stopped and turned around, I saw I was at the end of the army of robots and cleared out an entire row on the first try. Confident as I was, I looked at my gloved hands.

"Maybe I should try punching next." I thought.

I quickly ran back to the army of mechs, and began to launch my right fist back. When I was close enough to one of the robots, I punched the heck out of it. And there, the robot I've punched fell like a rock onto the grassy plain. After that, my fist didn't hurt at all. I even put all of my strength into that punch. I looked at my fist.

"Heh, I would soo beat the crap out of Amy if we fought. I can't wait to see her again!" I made an evil chuckle.

"Court! Watch out!" I heard Sonic yell ahead, ready to run out and help me. I turned around and saw that one of the bigger robots of the army just shot a beam, ready to pierce me. I stared; I was already too late to get out of the way. But something came right out of the ordinary. A bright orange hedgehog with clothing jumped in front of me and made the sacrifice of getting hit.

I watched the whole thing happen surprisingly.

I ran at the injured orange hedgehog, seeing that blood was going right through the black-and-white shirt through his chest. I looked at his face, and saw that he was out unconscious. And there, I noticed that he was wearing glasses. My eyes just shot wide open.

_Dylan!?_

He was here all this time! He was the shadow spying on us. But why didn't he just come out earlier if he knew that I was here? And I would have known he would have not hid since Sonic was around. I looked at his hedgehog form, worried.

_He didn't have to do that! I could've dodged, even if I would have a little injury!_

I heard Sonic destroy the robot that hit Dylan, and he quickly rushed by me.

"Is the guy alright!?" Sonic asked me in a nervous tone. I began to tear up.

"That 'guy' is Dylan, Sonic! And he's badly hurt!"

Without thinking, Sonic called out for his best friend for help. "TAILS!"

And the two-tails fox propelled quickly by the blue hedgehog's side. He stared at Dylan and made a nod, knowing what to do.

He revealed a glass container behind him, which had a picture of a gold ring in the middle and the number 10 on the right bottom corner.

He dropped the container on Dylan, making a 'bop' sound as the container vanished. And suddenly I saw that his bleeding slowed to a minimum. Tails gave me a long white cloth while I was continuing to look at my unconscious friend.

"Do you want to help?" Tails asked me softly. I nodded and grabbed the cloth.

Sonic held Dylan up as he took off his shirt, then I quickly began to wrap the long cloth around the now small wound on his chest. Bandaging him.

"I would have completely healed him by using more rings, but that was the only ring package that I held." Tails sounded ashamed in himself.

"Tails, it isn't your fault. You didn't know that something like this will happen. But he's alright now, since he has rings, and will probably heal in no time with that bandage wrapped around." Sonic held his left thumb up and smiled.

I wiped off my tears and also made a smile at Tails. "Yeah, Sonic's right. No worries."

I heard Knuckles in the distance, destroying what's left of the robots. After awhile, the noises stopped and the echidna came rushing to us.

"Hey! What with you all just sitting there, while I was the only one having—what the?" Knuckles stared blankly at the wounded orange hedgehog. Sonic grabbed a hold of him and stood up.

"We need to find us a resting spot. Green Hill Zone is far from our reach now, and if we stay here then we'll be attracting more pursuers." Sonic told everyone seriously. The red echidna looked ahead.

"I can see a great body of water nearby; I think we're almost to the ocean."

"Perfect." Sonic said. Then he turned to me and Tails. "Is that alright for you two?"

"Yeah." Tails and I said together. But the fox looked at Sonic strangely.

"Are you sure you want to be by water in a long length of time?"

"As long if I'm not in it, I'm fine." Sonic winked at his bud.

I looked at Dylan in the blue hedgehog's arms, worried as heck. I was still wondering why he would do such a thing like that. I wouldn't mind if I've gotten hit and bleed for a short time. I'm tough like that. But I guess he didn't know. I knew there are some things that we don't know about each other, which we've never discussed much. But, that was nice of him to do that. Taking coverage for me. I owe him a lot for that.

"Court?" Sonic looked at me worried now. I guess he'd said my name more than once whenever I was in thought. I looked up at him.

He laughed. "Ready to go?"

"Yep." I made a short smile at him. And we've ran to catch up to Tails and Knuckles, heading for our next destination: Seaside Hill.


	8. Dylan’s Explanation

Chapter 8 Dylan's Explanation

Twilight soon showed when we first got to Seaside Hill. When I've got there, everything looked beautiful. But the best part of it was the ocean with the sun sparkling in the waters. Nearby I could see a whole lot of white and red marbled corkscrews, and big tall towers with the same color.

"That's Ocean Palace." Sonic told me. "We're going to be heading there after your friend recovers."

I didn't reply. I looked at Dylan worried again. Before Sonic ever got to see my expression on my face, I turned around searching for a spot for we can sleep. We could sleep on the beach, but we didn't have any blankets/towels to lie on (Me getting sandy and dirty is my last option). The best place that I've found was the beginning of the entrance of a corkscrew. It was the only flat place in this whole area. I walked over and sat on the grass, dazing into the sky till twilight disintegrates.

I saw that Sonic laid Dylan next to me. He made my friend's mostly white shirt, bundle into a ball, and placed it under Dylan's head as a pillow. Then Sonic went over the other side of me, and sat as I heard the others getting settled behind us, preparing to rest. Sonic stared at me, wondering why I haven't said a word while we traveled here. I ignored. Worry was eating away at me.

_What if Dylan doesn't wake up?_

_What if my brother is hurt, or maybe killed now!?_

_What if—_

"Court?" Sonic touched me on my left shoulder, looking more worried that I was. But once I turned to look at him, his expression changed.

"What did I tell you...? Leave the worrying to me! I promised you if you don't worry, good things will happen."

I made my right hand into a fist. Squeezing it soo tight, my hand would of turned white if I was human. How was Sonic soo sure of this?

"What are you going to say to me whenever Dylan continues to be in this state? Or seeing my brother with cuts and bruises, or something much worse…? It wouldn't be that much a promise would it?"

"Courtney, I felt Dylan's pulse whenever I was carrying him. He'll be fine. And I have a feeling that your brother is ok. But I told you if Eggman ever did such a thing, I'll make him hurt…_badly_."

"I'm pretty sure I'll be the one who will hurt him _badly_. He's _my_ brother…" I said serious.

"But I want to hurt him too!" Sonic whined. "Eggman's my punching bag!"

"No he's going to be my punching bag on this adventure!" My lips rose. I bet this is Sonic's trick of making me smile.

"He's always been my punching bag."

"Well we can share."

"Hahaha! No…"

"Hey Sonic! Some people are trying to sleep here!" Knuckles yelled behind us, him and Tails were lying against a palm tree. Sonic turned and gave the red echidna a confused stare.

"Court was arguing too!" The blue hedgehog pointed at me, giving me the full blame. But Knuckles continued to look at Sonic ticked. As always…

"Court is not the trouble maker type, Sonic. So, occasionally it's your fault. Now just shut up and sleep." Knuckles yawned and closed his eyes. And Tails did soon afterwards. Sonic grumbled then turned to focus on me, suddenly serious.

"Look, I know I sound like a broken record…" Sonic said as he placed his hand on my shoulder again. "But don't worry. Everything will be alright…trust me."

I looked at Sonic's eyes and slowly nodded. He made a nod too and had let go of my shoulder, lay on the ground with his arms crossed behind his head, and closed his eyes. I there looked at him, then looked at Dylan next to me, then him again. It's just Sonic's and Dylan's personalities are almost alike. Them two are goofs, tell you that, but they can be serious if they need to be.

I lay down on the ground; like Sonic, but before I closed my eyes I looked at Dylan one more time. Although I'll be ignoring Sonic's promise, but I couldn't help but worry for my friend. My best friend…

_Please be ok…_

* * *

The sunrise woke me up this morning. The light was staining through my eyelids.

I blinked a few times to get blurriness out of my eyes, and then sat up. The first thing I notice was Sonic was resting on his stomach other then his back (guess the light disturbed him) and then I saw Tails and Knuckles sleeping together behind us, sitting against the same tree. The light didn't get the chance to reach there yet. And now Dylan...

He wasn't there.

There was just an empty spot on my right side that Dylan was supposed to be. Empty! Nothing there!

I felt like at that moment that I was going to have a panic attack, but I managed to calm back down to my original state. I made a promise to Sonic, I mustn't worry anymore.

I stood up quickly, looking around everywhere and everyplace, but still no orange hedgehog.

_Oh God…What if somebody kidnapped him!? Holy crap!!!_

I thought the worse and then I started dashing for the beach, rashly looking everywhere. My prediction can _not_ be true! _Crash!_

I rammed into something and my bottom crashed into the warm sand.

"Ow…" I said softly, and then a white gloved hand reached for me. There, I traveled from the hand, arm, body, and the face. It was an orange hedgehog…Dylan!

"Haha…you better be watching where you're going goofball." Dylan chuckled as I grabbed his hand while he pulled me back up. Once I was back on my feet, I rashly gave him a hug and almost fell backwards into the sand.

"Dylan! You're ok! How did you get here, and why did you have to do a stupid thing like that!? You didn't have to protect me! I was worried about you!" I spoke, and I was on the urge of crying again. But I didn't want him seeing me like that. I let him go and was prepared for his answer. But he asked me a question instead.

"Court...Am I dreaming?" He asked. I stared at him wide-eyed.

"Dreaming?" Dylan nodded.

"Yeah, this is a dream right? I'm in my fantasy world of Sonic, and you're surprising the only friend I have in here. I don't want to ask this but…how do I wake up, and get out of here?"

I blinked blankly at him for a few seconds, and then I giggled. "Dylan, this isn't a dream. Here's proof." I reached my right hand to one of his arms and pinched him.

"OWW COURT!" Dylan cried out, rubbing the place where I pinched him. I laughed.

"Wait…" Dylan realized. "This isn't a dream. I was hoping that when I protected you from that beam, that everything will go blank and I'll be back in bed again. Guess that didn't work."

"Soo you only did that so you can get back home?" I lowered my tone. Dylan laughed.

"Well a part of it, plus I didn't want Courtney here to get hurt." He grinned.

"Yeah yeah..." I said quietly as we started walking along the shore. Dylan leaned close to my face.

"I'm _serious_." He whispered and made me laugh again. And it wasn't that long till we started to ask questions.

"So everything here in this world is real!? Even SONIC!?" Dylan was getting hyper. I made quick nods.

"Yes, everything here is real, strange but true." I looked over to the ocean, seeing that the sun was rising more and more as we spoke. And I thought again, why does this world exist? I'm still in shock after all the days I've been here. I guess I just have to believe and accept that.

"Oh my God…Let's go see Sonic now!" Dylan grabbed both of my gloved hands and he dragged me backwards. But I dragged my heels of my shoes in the wet sand, making him stop.

"He's still sleeping Dylan, we shouldn't disturb him. And plus, there are still some questions I need to ask you." I said quietly and seriously. Dylan stopped.

"Oh…wait let me guess—you want to ask me how I got here, and that I was hiding from you, correct?"

I stared blank at my friend again. "Yeah, mind explaining?"

Both Dylan and I sat where we stood by the shore. And I watched the saltwater touch my shoes till Dylan was ready to speak.

"Well, it happened about three days ago. When I was watching TV at home at night, the news came on. And the first thing that they talked about was there were two missing siblings, and it showed you and one of your brothers. I panicked and then I called Chel's on my phone and told her the news. She was scared and couldn't believe what I just told her. Then she told me that she'll be picking me up and we'll head over to your house."

"Then what happened?" I asked. Dylan chuckled. "I'm getting there! Can you let me catch my breath?" He breathed countless times then he started to explain once more.

"Once she picked me up and was closely to your house, I could've sworn that I saw a bright light somewhere deep inside the forest you live by. I there told Chel's to stop driving and let me out there. She asked me why, but I told her that it wouldn't be long and then I will meet up with her at the house later. Soon as she left, I walked deep into the forest till the light was glowing brighter to me. As I finally got to it and touched it…it was nothing but a blur to me."

"Soo that's how you got here." I looked at my friend, understanding now. "But…"

"Getting to that!" Dylan laughed again. "The reason why I hid away from you guys is because…well…was kinda freaked out where I was at, and that I didn't want anybody to see me. I saw you too it's just…it's just I wanted to be alone for a while."

I stared at him confusedly. "Wha?"

"Yeah, we have much more in common then we know, Court." Dylan stood up and was about to reach for my hand, but he grunted and grabbed his chest in pain.

"Dylan!" I yelled and helped him up.

"Thanks Court." He smiled. I made a little laugh.

"Anytime." I said. Then I saw Dylan just suddenly looked at me with excitement written all over his smile.

"Hey, since I'm done explaining and all that jazz, can we see Sonic now!?"

"Yeah, if course." I spoke and rolled my eyes, and then Dylan made a playful punch on my left shoulder.

"Saw that!" He said. And we continued laughing while we traveled back to the beginning of Seaside Hill.


	9. New Threats

Chapter 9 New Threats

So far into the distance, very far away from Sonic and the others, was Eggman's base. Secretly hidden from where it was located. Inside in the base was huge, everything from the walls, the ceiling, and the floors were nothing but metal. But in the rooms of the bas were covered with computers and technology. And in the largest computer room laid Courtney's brother, strapped to chair with mechanical cords pinned all over his new hedgehog body.

"W-Why are you doing this?" Kyle asked weakly. Eggman was sitting in a big, comfortable, rolling chair looking at Kyle's data on the big computer monitor in front of him. He then turned the chair, to look at him, and made an evil laugh.

"To take over this world of course!" He answered with confidence.

"No…what are you doing…to me?" Kyle seemed to be almost lifeless. It's because of Eggman's daily tests with him that had made him like this way. Also he hasn't rested in days.

"Nothing you should know. In a matter of days you'll forget everything that you experienced in your life, and be controlled by yours truly. As long Shadow brings that sister of yours and all of the Chaos Emeralds, everything will process quickly." Eggman explained and made his evil laugher once again, only it continued longer and loudly this time.

"Hoho! I still can't believe Shadow took my word that I would make his sweetheart Maria brought back to life again—which is impossible—and he believed me and followed my orders! Ha!"

"What was that…_Doctor_?" A deep angry voice spoke in the shadows of the room. Eggman froze up.

"Uh…is that you Shadow!?" Eggman asked nervously, hoping that the black and red hedgehog didn't hear all what he had said.

"Yes." Shadow growled and revealed himself into the light, giving Eggman the deadliest of all glares. Eggman tried to ignore that.

"Um, did you get the sister like I told you?"

"No." Shadow replied short, his growling increased. Before Eggman asked anything else, Shadow quickly got to Eggman and grabbed the top of his red jacket and made him lean over. They were now face to face.

"So, you lied to me! I should've known not to believe you! Do you even know how much Maria means to me!? DO YOU!?" Shadow snapped. Eggman looked frightened.

He was ready to punch Eggman deep in the face, but familiar words echoed in his mind, preventing Shadow not to release the force of his fist.

_Did you suddenly forget that promise!? The promise _she _made?_

Shadow's closed his hate filled eyes, and scrunched them. Then he grunted and shoved Eggman back into his chair and slowly walk over to Courtney's little brother, seeing a passed out black and green hedgehog.

"I quit." Shadow said darkly. "And just so you know, whatever you're planning to do will never work. Just like with your other plans, Doctor. As long _he_ is in this world, you'll never succeed." He continued with the same tone. Now, he started heading for the exit.

"Wait! Don't leave Shadow! I need you!" Eggman cried out, wanting his used-to-be partner to continue his job and go on following his orders.

Shadow surprisingly stopped, and then he turned to give Eggman one last glare.

"You'll regret this."

There, he exited out. But while Shadow was walking through a hallway, heading his way out, he thought about her, the girl, the sister that knew his and Maria's promise. The one that spoke that group of words in his mind.

And he thought it wouldn't mind seeing her again.

* * *

"Oh my God, You are real!" Dylan was jumping up and down like the fanboy he was, right in front of Sonic. But I told him to stop jumping till Tails gets back with more rings. But he refuses to listen. I just didn't want him falling down in pain again.

Sonic started to wave his hands. "Ok don't get _too_ excited now."

But Dylan couldn't help it.

"Can I have your autograph!?" Dylan was hyper to the max this time. And he searched for a pen and paper in one of his pockets in his shorts, but they were empty.

"Great…" Dylan sounded disappointed. Sonic walked up to him and placed his right hand on his left shoulder. He made a smile.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to give you an autograph before this adventure ends. Trust me on that." Sonic winked.

"Alright!" Dylan grinned, and it gotten even bigger when he asked what our adventure is going to lead. I frowned.

"To Dr. Eggman's base. He took my brother away from me, and now we're trying to rescue him." I spoke softly. Dylan looked at me seriously now.

"Oh, so this is why you're here? To save your brother?" He asked. I slowly nodded.

"But…" He continued. "Why does Eggman want your brother? He doesn't look like the type that would help him conquer the world."

"That's what we're trying to find out." Knuckles spoke grumpily with his arms crossed.

"But the only guy that knows, and that is close enough to ask, is Shadow." Sonic pointed out. "He's been working with Eggman, surprisingly, and he's doing his filthy work to only get what he wants."

After Sonic explained, I closed my eyes and pictured Shadow's sorrowful face before he disappeared that day. His eyes… his red eyes were filled with despair, along with the tears that began to shred down his face. He was looking at me with that same face and reached out for me, to only be comforted.

I knew what Shadow wanted…

Before I can continue; my thoughts were interrupted when I heard flapping sounds in the air. It was Tails, propelling his two fox tails, and he had come back.

"Sorry it took me soo long. It's hard trying to find ring packages." Tails said as he finally landed.

"It's fine Tails. No need to apologize." Sonic chuckled and smiled. Nearby, Knuckles was tapping his right foot impatiently, it looked like he was in a rush to leave.

Tails walked over to Dylan and then revealed a glass ring container behind him, once again. But instead of Tails giving it to him, he just threw it at his chest while making a 'bop' sound. And there, the container was gone. Dylan touched his chest afterwards, feeling no soreness or pain. His wound had vanished.

"It worked!" Dylan cheered happily. "My wound isn't there anymore!"

"Alright!" Sonic raised his hand in front of him and then made it into a fist. "It's time to get going!"

"Finally!" Knuckles burst in relief. And then he started to dash toward the corkscrew, going through the loop.

"Hey! Who said you can lead us, echidna!" Sonic joked around, and in a flash he was already passing the corkscrew.

"Wait guys!" Tails cried, not wanting to be left behind. And soon he was gone.

"Wow." I just stood there, along with Dylan. "Sonic just left and forgot his running buddy."

And then I saw Dylan walk next to me and then grabbed my hand. I looked at him surprised, yet confused.

"What are—"

"Let's go!" Dylan said encouraged and then we both ran to the marble corkscrew. When we almost ran to the top, Dylan laughed, and I couldn't help but laugh too. I then soon realized that these corkscrews don't really scare me anymore.

As we finished going down, we saw the whole team just standing there in the open, all of them staring at something ahead.

But before me or Dylan said or asked anything, we joined them and looked ahead too. And there we found our answer…

There was a huge robot army, covering almost half the area of Seaside Hill.


	10. Powers

Chapter 10 Powers

We looked at the horrible scene ahead of us. There were maybe a thousand robots covering half of this whole place. And even if we tried to get through them, we'll be risking our lives and be badly injured.

"It looks like they haven't learned their lesson the last time…" Sonic stared angry at the mechs below.

"Yeah and all five of us can't beat all of them." Tails says. "Well, we can. But it'll take a lot of time."

"Damn it!" Knuckles punched his fist deep into the ground, fully angered.

I looked as the robots spot us, getting prepared to attack if we got down any closer. Then I saw Dylan walk pass me, going down were the mechs stood. I caught a grip of one his hands.

"What are you doing!?" I looked at him as if he were crazy. He turned back to look at me with a calm expression on his face.

"C'mon, you're looking at the guy who almost mastered every Sonic game! And I know everyone's attacks, if you just—"

"I don't want you getting hurt again!" I interrupted, looking frightened. "Please, don't go…"

Dylan surprisingly blinked a few times, looking at my scared face. Then, he made a hopeless sigh. "…Fine. I'll stay." He spoke soft as I trustfully let go on his hand. And he traveled right back to the group.

Meanwhile, Sonic continued to stare at the packs of robots quietly, thinking of some strategy. Just right before somebody was about to ask him something, he burst out:

"I can handle all those mechs on my own!"

"WHAT!?" All of us dropped our mouths open. Sonic made a thumbs-up.

"You're looking at the fastest thing in the world! Maybe, just maybe if I ran around the robots fast enough…I might make a strong enough whirlwind or tornado of some sort. And then all of the mechs will be all caught in the vortex, and they'll be carried away who knows where! It'll save us from all the fighting!"

All four of us thought about the blue hedgehog's plan for a minute, until Dylan had said his opinion.

"Well, I'll _always_ agree with you Sonic…I say go for it!" He said grinning.

"Yeah, might work." Knuckles still looked unsure, but he agreed anyways.

"I say yes." Tails spoke soon afterwards. Then Sonic turned to me, to find out my answer. But I couldn't decide.

_Even if I saw him fight dangerous enemies before, but with him facing that many mechs…it's just…_

My thoughts disappeared when a gloved hand touched my right cheek. I looked ahead and saw it was Sonic, obviously, and he had a trustful look written on his face.

"I'll be fine." Were the only words he said, then his touch was no longer on my face. He began to walk out and started to head for the danger zone.

I touched the same place on my cheek where Sonic's hand was been, and I continued to watch the speedy hedgehog walk down with confidence.

_Don't worry, ok? I promised you that. Leave the worrying to me if it makes you feel better._

"Sonic." I whispered the hedgehog's name, as I remember him telling me that promise, the promise that I always broke. And right now, Sonic was listening to his own advice and didn't worry a bit.

Maybe it's time not to worry anymore…I want to repair that broken promise.

"You don't scare me!" I heard Sonic below, announcing truthfully. I heard the mechs move their arms, preparing to hit their target.

And then it was like the reference of when Sonic appeared in the 06 game, and at the time he appeared at my house. But he didn't run as fast as those two times in the past. He started to run around them slow-but-fast, only because there were soo many enemies.

I continued to watch him as he went around and around with his acceleration racing. But just now, I heard a huge missile coming out from one of Eggman's bigger robots in the middle of the pack. I realized that it was quickly heading, in its prediction, where Sonic might be available to get hit while he was running.

"SONIC! STOP!" I screamed.

But it was too late.

I heard Sonic's painful cry, and it lead to the sound of scattering rings.

"SONIC!" I ran down to him, ignoring the warnings that Tails and Knuckles were yelling out. I heard footsteps following me, Dylan's possibly, but I didn't go nor look back and I kept running to my blue partner.

I could see that Sonic was struggling to get up, and he was grabbing all the possible rings that were close to him. But in the meantime; the same robot launched another missile at him. And there, I had done the same brave, yet stupidest thing that my best friend had done to me a day ago…

I covered for Sonic.

I scrunched my eyes as I made my arms shield across my chest. I was prepared for the blow and the pain that awaited me. But ten seconds passed by and I didn't feel anything.

"Courtney…" I heard both Sonic and Dylan say in wonder. I opened my eyes, wondering why they were wondering and that why I wasn't hurt. And then I saw a huge violet covered sphere shielding everything that harmed from the outside. I looked at my hands, and I saw they were glowing the exact same color as the sphere.

"W-What the!?" I said freaking out. How did I do this!?

"So, I guess that your special power is shielding." Sonic stood up looking at me, impressed what I just done. "Just like speed is my power."

"I have a special…power?" I said surprised. Sonic gave a simple nod.

"Some Mobians that live in this world either have a special power or a special talent…And it looks like you found yours." The blue hedgehog winked.

Before I can question or say anything else, the violet bubble just disappeared. And not just that, my energy vanished too. The robots started to gather around us, knowing that our only protection is gone.

I tried to summon the shield again, but every time I tried, nothing worked.

"You have to wait till your energy builds up again." Sonic explained calmly. "It will only take about one minute."

"One minute isn't enough!" I yelled, seeing the mechs preparing to shoot. "They're going to shoot us!"

"Courtney, I can handle them." I heard Dylan say. I turned to him and tried not to worry.

"Dylan I—"

"I'll be fine." He repeated of what Sonic said earlier. Now, he looked serious. But I continued to stare and couldn't help but to believe him. Sonic rushed by his side soon after I told him my decision.

"Think you can handle this?" He asked. Dylan gave him a simple nod.

"Yes."

Before the battle already begun, Sonic told me that I should shield up again and head back to where Tails and Knucks were. But I told him I'm going to be right there beside them. I wasn't going to be a little creampuff like Amy. Yes, I know she has her flipping big hammer to smash everything in her path. But with her against an army like this…she'll run away (unless Sonic is in trouble).

"Jump!" Sonic commanded as me and Dylan did what he said. Below I can see the mechs beginning to shoot where we were standing.

After I landed, I started with some punches and some speed dashes. And then I started to do some new moves like the homing attack for example. And there were times that I had to use my shield when I was close of getting hit.

From the inside of the violet sphere, I paid attention to my surroundings. But I couldn't help but watch Sonic speeding and attacking everywhere. And Dylan, for his first time, was doing really well. I should've let him go from the start. But I guess spoke too soon.

Dylan was shot and five rings scattered around when he fell. But surprisingly he stood back up like the hit didn't matter, and he collected all the rings that were around him. While he did, I can see that his face was full with anger.

"Dylan…" I whispered. This wasn't like him.

I made my protected sphere vanish, and started heading for Dylan. But while I ran to him, he started to dash around in a small circle, going faster and faster. But it wasn't as fast as Sonic's. I think he was starting up a whirlwind like Sonic was planning from the beginning, but Dylan's was smaller.

Then something was sprouting out of the whirlwind that he was converging. It sparked and the wind started to turn yellow, orange, and red…

It was fire!

After his twister was forged, it begun to get bigger and bigger and it started to suck everything in its path. It even started to suck me.

"Court!" Sonic yelled worriedly, running to me. But after he was that close of getting me; something else got me instead. And that something suddenly yelled two words, the two words that immediately gave me the answer who I was caught by…

"CHAOS CONTROL!" The deep voice yelled.

It was Shadow.


	11. Reminder

Chapter 11 Reminder

The fiery tornado, that Dylan once forged, was slowly decreasing in size. Every single mech that set foot on this long land was perished by his flames. Dylan appeared in the same place where the twister once stood, which was finally gone. He looked exhausted.

"I let them hurt me once…but I refuse them to hurt me again." He took deep breaths. Then he looked at himself.

"But how did I do that?" He said nervously. "It was just like what happened to Court. I have a power…"

"Sonic!" He heard Tails' cry nearby. He looked up and saw he and Knuckles were running to Sonic, which he stood there motionless in the middle of all the debris.

"Sonic!" Dylan called, knowing that there was something wrong with him. Once he, Tails, and Knucks finally got to him, the blue hedgehog lowered his shoulders.

"Sonic? What's wrong? What happened!?" Dylan asked worriedly.

"It's Courtney…" Sonic spoke softly, as he slowly turned to look at him.

"Shadow kidnapped her again."

"WHAT!?" the fox, echidna, and the orange hedgehog yelled surprisingly. Sonic forgot to tell that whole incident.

"You mean Shadow kidnapped her before!?" Knuckles yelled in shock.

"Apparently yes…" Sonic spoke with a serious tone. "And I have to get her back immediately, before he takes her off to Eggman!"

"What does Eggman want with her!?" Dylan yelled, very worriedly.

"It's not that Eggman needs her, I guess that he wants to hold her captive so that she couldn't help us. And the reason why Shadow's helping is because he'll be getting something in return…"

"Like what?" The confused Tails asked. Sonic shook his head.

"That's what I need to find out."

Before Sonic dashed off, turning to run the rest of Seaside Hill and into Ocean Palace, Dylan got in his way.

"I want to help you." He also said in a serious tone, just like Sonic. The blue hedgehog frowned for a moment, and then he'd smiled.

"…Alright!"

"What about us Sonic?" Tails asked concerned. Sonic's smile turned into a frown once more.

"I think it'll be best if you two go on without me. I'm not sure if Dylan and I will be back soon, Shadow's a tough guy to beat. So, I want you both to find any Chaos Emeralds while we're gone. Understood?"

Knuckles gave a slow nod, while Tails revealed a device behind him and gave it to Sonic. It was a watch.

"I'll contact you through this if we find one of the Emeralds!" Tails started to spin his tails behind him, flying off. Knuckles ran close behind.

"Bye Sonic, Dylan!" They both said their goodbyes; they were heading towards to a different direction, away from heading to the entrance of Ocean Palace.

"Hope you'll find her!" Were the last things they said, then they were gone.

Dylan already got a head start, and started to dash off without warning, and then Sonic soon caught up. He looked at him with a smirk.

"Worried?" He asked while running.

Dylan thought for a little bit and softly spoke out his answer. "Yeah…" He said. Sonic made a wink.

"This is something that I always told Court…Don't worry, cause if you don't, good things will happen."

"You sure?" Dylan looked unsure as he was inhaling. Sonic made a chuckle, and then he reached out his knuckle for Dylan, to make a knuckle touch.

"Would I lie to my biggest fan?" The blue hedgehog grinned. Dylan couldn't help but grin back. They knuckle touched.

And it wasn't long till they reached the entrance of Ocean Palace.

* * *

"What…?" I mumbled softly, waking up from that darkness yet again. I opened my eyes and blinked a couple times, to get my vision back.

Everything was green, realizing I was inside of a forest…again.

"What the heck happened?" I questioned myself. Suddenly a chain of flashbacks started to flip through my mind. There was a whole bunch of robots, Sonic getting hurt, finding out my power, fighting together, Dylan forming a tornado with fire...

And the rest was just blank to me.

_I shouldn't be here; I want to know if Sonic and Dylan are alright!_

As I looked around the forest, trying to find a way back, and then I heard the sound of waterfalls nearby. I must be near the end of Ocean Palace.

I there started to run, wanting the noise to get stronger and stronger. But something just appeared right in front of me, and there, I got rammed and fell into the mossy ground.

"You're not thinking of leaving me, are you?" A deep voice questioned me. I looked up and saw the thing that stopped me. It was Shadow.

_Oh…I forgot he teleported us._

I slowly got back up. "Yes, I was." I spoke the truth. "I thank you for protecting me and all, but please! Bring me back! I wish to know if Sonic and Dylan are alright!"

"They are…" Shadow spoke carelessly. I started to growl.

"Look, you can kidnap me another time! I don't care! I just want to see them!"

I charged forward and pushed Shadow out of the way, but he'd just grabbed one of my wrists and gripped it.

"No! You're staying here! I want you here…"

Despite that my favorite character wanted me to stay; I kept tugging and trying to get away. But what all I'm doing is tiring myself, I can't get away from the ultimate lifeform.

"Let. Me. Go." I said each word threatening. My anger was rising.

"I JUST WANT TO BE WITH YOU, ALRIGHT?!" Shadow yelled fully. I looked back at him with a shocked face, seeing his was filled with anger yet despair.

"I didn't take you to bring you to Eggman, he destroyed our contract. I…I took you because I must see you again…you know soo much, and yet…you remind me of _her_…"

My face was still filled with the shock expression. Shadow knew I wasn't going to run in this state, so he let go of my hand. I stared at him for a few seconds till I finally said something.

"Eggman promised you that he'll bring Maria back, did he?"

Now Shadow was the one with the shocked face, but slowly it saddened.

"Yes, you don't know how much I was happy when he told me that…but he lied to me, tricked me! Using my power to get what he wanted! I wanted to crush his face soo badly! I wanted him to see how much pain that I felt on that night…"

I automatically walked closer to him, his sorrow dragged me toward.

"Eggman is a monster. He'll do anything that will make this world his." I told the hedgehog, angrily. He looked up at me with a serious look.

"It isn't just this world that he wanted…he also wants _your_ world as well. If his project with your brother works…"

I snapped.

"Please! You know where my brother is! Take me to him, please!!!" I fell onto the floor begging the black and red hedgehog to lead me to him. He did a soft grunt.

"My duties don't come cheap…but since you remind me soo much of her…" Shadow scrunched his eyes, embarrassed. He almost blushed.

I quickly wrapped my arms around him, and gave him a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you soo much!" I said happily.

Shadow on the other hand, did the same, but he hugged tighter. He wanted this embrace to last.

_Maria…_ That beautiful name echoed in his head.

But the hug didn't last long as Shadow hoped. We were surrounded by robots.

"Damn." Shadow growled. "Of all times!" Then he turned to me, and grabbed hold.

"I suggest you should hold on." He spoke deeply. And in a matter of seconds, he was off skating through the woods. I held a tight grip around his neck.

The mechs flew closely behind, forbidding Shadow to escape. I looked back at them with a glare, as if this day wasn't already bad already with these retarded robots jumping in.

"Are they after you?" I asked Shadow, wanting to make sure. He nodded.

"Yes, I told you Eggman broken our contract. And because of that, I quit. Either these mechs are trying to take me back or to kill me. Heh heh…they wouldn't even get the chance!" Shadow laughed as he skated faster. But dead ahead, we saw more robots coming in.

"Will they ever stop appearing?!" I yelled mad. Shadow didn't reply and was heading right toward them. Was he nuts?

I quickly leaned my head against his, scrunching my eyes. But I soon open them as I heard Shadow yell Chaos Control.

The mechs' pace was slower now. The whole group in front of us was all in slow-mo. As we passed through, Shadow did something to make them all explode behind us. I looked at him surprised, while he just made a smirk in return.

"How did you—"

"A little secret of mine."

The same routine repeated and repeated, that is till there were too many robots ahead that we can't pass. I growled again, and I almost cussed. Shadow dropped me off there on the spot, and started to dash right into that metal mess. I would've screamed his name, but I knew that Shadow would have everything in control.

"CHAOS BLAST!" Shadow yelled. And it wasn't long till a huge energy blast occurred and destroyed all the mechs surrounding him. I watched the whole thing amazed.

As the smoke cleared from the blast, I saw Shadow standing in the middle of the fallen robots, breathing heavily. His attack must've taken a lot of energy for him to stand there for long. Other than that I saw red liquid staining through his now ripped right glove, it started to run and drip onto the grassy green ground.

"Shadow!" I rashly ran to him, being careful not to trip on any robots on the way. While I ran, I grabbed that same long white cloth in one of my pockets that was used as a bandage for Dylan. He cleaned it before we'd gotten more ahead into Seaside Hill, and he'd given it back to me.

_Keep this if I'll get hurt again, which will be like never! _I remember Dylan saying that while he given that to me.

As I quickly got to Shadow, I bent down and quickly took off his stained ripped glove, seeing that the injury was worse that I expected. I quickly started wrapping the clean long cloth around Shadow's hand, or paw.

Shadow looked at me with that same sad look he'd given me earlier, and he also looked liked he was in deep thought. I knew what he was thinking about…

"There!" I said finishing up wrapping the bandage. As I got up, I was soon hugged again. And while I was being hugged, I heard Shadow whimper.

"Maria…" He cried.

I had no words to say, but I replied by hugging tighter. And it successfully made Shadow calmer, only because I was reminded of somebody he deeply cared for.

"The Doctor will regret…" I heard Shadow say darkly.

"He _will_ regret…"


	12. Team Hedgehog

Chapter 12 Team Hedgehog

"Stop Dylan!" Sonic suddenly ran to a stop. He and Dylan were now deep inside a very green forest. They were running non-stop till now. Dylan was thankful, and took a moment to breathe and quickly restore his energy.

Meanwhile Sonic was looking down below him, seeing maybe fifty fallen robots on the forest floor. Dylan walked next to the blue hedgehog.

"I wonder what happened here." Sonic spoke. Dylan looked closely at the scene.

"It looks like something blew up in the middle and destroyed all these mechs. Perhaps a bomb? No…" Dylan continued to think.

"But I do know somebody who could have done a thing such as this…Shadow."

Sonic surprisingly turned to his number one fan. "Him? Shadow? He wouldn't!" He rashly shook his head. "He wouldn't have destroyed his allies!"

"It can't be anything else, it has to be Shadow. Sure of it." Dylan looked confident in his answer. Sonic continued to look surprised.

"Court was right; you really are a big fan. I'm really glad you came along!" Sonic winked. Dylan chuckled.

"Well that leaves one question, why would Shadow kidnap Courtney and just destroy his allies?" Sonic looked down again, as Dylan done the same.

"Well we can't find the answer just standing here." Dylan was preparing to sprint off. Sonic gave another one of his smirks and shook his head, telling his friend that he needs to stop worrying and listen to his advice. Dylan saw and laughed, rolled up his eyes, and then focused on the road ahead of him. And it wasn't long till Sonic caught up.

In the matter of minutes, they found her.

* * *

"Shadow?" I said the dark hedgehog's name while we two were walking together. Shadow was busy rubbing and looking on the white bandage that I wrapped around his hand, deeply thinking. Maybe it was best to give him time to himself.

"What?" He responded late, calmly and deep. My head bolted up.

"How…How did you find me? You've never seen me this way before." I asked. It was just something I wondered about.

"I remembered what you wore the time I saw you." Shadow quickly said his answer. Then he was back looking at the bandage on his hand. Meanwhile, my heart was suddenly racing. I was soo caught up with my brother issue that I just forgot about Sonic and Dylan. Some friend I am.

_I need to go back…but I really need to save my brother as soon as I can! What can I do in this situation?! My brother is in danger, and Sonic and Dylan might be laying there injured or knocked out! Ugh! I can't choose!_

I instantly stopped.

Shadow continued walking till he realized that my footsteps were no longer following his. He turned with a concern look on his face.

"What is it?"

I looked down at my shoes. "Um…" I tried to start but the words couldn't come out. I was afraid to speak.

"Ask me Courtney." Shadow spoke in the calmest way possible. I never heard him speak like this to anybody else, except Maria. Duh, I reminded him of her…

"Um…" I said the second time. But I manage to spit the words out quickly when my courage flared up. "I need to go back!"

Shadow blinked a few times and then grunted. "You're that worried about them, are you?" I looked at Shadow and made a slow nod.

"Yes. Sonic and Dylan…they're my closest friends. And I'll hate just walking here in the forest just thinking they might be lying around somewhere hurt or exhausted. I know Tails and Knuckles are around, but they don't have much rings to spare on them. Look, as much as I like being with you, and that we're steps closer to finding my brother soon…I just want to know if they're alright."

After I finished explaining, Shadow looked away at me and made an angry glare. But he shook it off and tried to be on his best behavior. Although, I did hear him say 'Sonic' under his breath angry while he walked over to me. He revealed his green Chaos Emerald behind him, and made a heavy sigh.

"If this is what you wish…so be it…Chaos—UGH!"

A blue flash knocked into Shadow and made both of us fall to the forest ground. Then the blue flash passed again to grab the green Chaos Emerald that Shadow dropped during the fall. I was on the urge of getting up till something grabbed and helped me behind. I looked back and saw an orange hedgehog with glasses. It was Dylan!

He protected me by getting in the front, and he carefully watches Shadow getting up. Making sure he wouldn't do anything quick or sneaky. Shadow made a snarl at him.

Dylan responded to that by making a little flame appear in his right hand, while on the other, he used it to grip one of my hands.

"I know your one of my favorite characters but…I got fire powers! And I know how to use them!"

"Dylan!" I yelled his name. I didn't want him to make any threats to the hedgehog that would help me find my brother. Before I can say anything else, Sonic appeared on a branch of a tree. He was throwing the green Chaos Emerald in his right hand smiling at his rival.

"You're powerless now, buddy! I swear I'm tired of you taking my partner away. What are you planning to do with her!? Taking her to Eggman, I suppose!?"

"No! And it's none of your concern!" Shadow growled deeply in his throat. He was ready to jump, but Sonic managed to drop down before he did, and soon, the black and blue hedgehog fought. I watched the whole scene in shock.

Before I yelled or said anything, Dylan started to dash off far away in the forest tugging me along, away from the fighting scene. But there, I digged my shoes deep in the dirt in the ground yelling 'No!' constantly, to make him stop. Dylan did stop.

"What is it, Court?! Can't you see I'm trying to save you!?"

"Yes! But Shadow is a good guy now, Dylan! He was leading me to my brother, but before we continued, I told him that I need to go back to see you and Sonic. I was worried about you. But you guys came before we even teleported back."

Silence took about. It lasted more than two minutes.

"You were worried about me?" Dylan asked seriously. I made a weird look on my face, how can't I be worried if he was in giant swirling flames!?

"Well duh! You were in a big flaming tornado! Of course I was worried!" I shook my arms rapidly. But I was stopped with a hug.

"I was worried about you too. I know you were with your favorite character and all, but still, worried!" Dylan spoke through his hug. Then suddenly I begun laughing, and Dylan laughed along too.

"Why are we laughing?" Dylan asked as he released me, still chuckling.

"Because I keep breaking Sonic's promise. I worry and worry and worry and I can't stop. I'm just one of those people who always think negative." I palm slapped my face. "I'm such an idiot!"

Dylan stopped laughing. "Me and Sonic made the same kind of promise too. Funny thing is I broke it too, only by worrying about you."

"This is stupid…how can we break a promise with our favorite video game character? I mean, we seen the games, and we know what Sonic says is mostly true. Maybe now—"

I was interrupted by a pinky in front of my face.

"Maybe now we should listen, lets make a promise ourselves to accept Sonic's advice. We won't ever worry again while we're here."

I looked at Dylan's face, and then his pinky. I made a soft laugh.

"Funny? Of all times I'm being serious…" Dylan looked annoyed. My laugh grew as I entangled his pinky with mine.

"No." I said. "It's just all what has happen in this adventure so far is mostly fighting annoying mechs and promises. I think I have too many promises to keep." I continued to giggle. "And the other thing that I'm laughing about is that you and Sonic have that same pinky promise thing! Haha…You two are almost alike!"

Dylan scratched the back of his orange quills. "Haha really?" He said as if he didn't know. Then suddenly stood up straight. "Wait! Speaking of Sonic, we must help him! We can't just stand here chitter chattering!"

Dylan gripped my right hand again, and we rashly went back to the fighting scene. When we finally got there, we saw Sonic and Shadow rapidly punching and kicking each other. Rings were scattered everywhere, and both of them were too busy fighting to help themselves. I can just tell this fight was near fatal.

"Ah!" Sonic yelped as Shadow kicked his stolen green Chaos Emerald out of his hand. He quickly went behind the blue blur and picked it up.

"Ha! You can no longer use Chaos Control. Now it's my turn!" Shadow spoke with anger written all over his tone. After saying Chaos Control, he teleported above Sonic and kicked and forced him down in the dirt. He jumped afterwards, landing nearby the injured hedgehog and darkly laughed.

"After all those times in the past you've defeated me…you chose to lose. And it wasn't even that of a fair fight!" Shadow yelled to the motionless Sonic. But after a few seconds I saw him move.

"I didn't lose; the fight isn't over yet!" Sonic spoke as he slowly gotten back up. He wiped the mud from his face.

"Hmph! So it continues!" Shadow charged right at Sonic. He was going soo fast, that I saw his skates blasting with energy at the bottom.

"This is it, Shadow!" Sonic charged as well. He was going as fast as he can in his weakened state. In the matter of seconds, they'll meet, and it would be all over.

_I won't let them do this! _I thought. Then I started to run towards the middle of the battleground.

"Court! NO!" Dylan yelled out. But I kept going, knowing what to do.

By the time Sonic and Shadow were that close to each other, I stepped in and spreaded my arms apart. And then my force field appeared. I heard both Sonic and Shadow slam against it and fell backwards onto the ground. Once it was safe, I made my violet sphere disappear.

"Oh…forgot you had that thing." Dylan watched the whole thing surprisingly. Sonic and Shadow weakly gotten back up, ignoring me and still growled at each other.

"Please guys just stop!" I yelled irritated.

"Stop? Court, he was going to take you to Eggman!" Sonic pointed out. Shadow on the other hand, grunted.

"No." He said. "That was before; I took her away to only be with her and to help her lead to her brother. Nothing more. Things have changed Sonic."

"Liar!" Sonic rejected. I gave Sonic a serious glare.

"It's true Sonic. Believe me if you don't believe him." I told him. Sonic stood there in deep thought for a little while, and then looked at me and nodded. "You sure?"

"I'm positive."

Sonic then smiled. "Ok I believe you. Court, Dylan…it's time to get going!" Sonic was about to dash off, forgetting that this battle ever occurred. But I quickly grabbed one of his arms before he ever took a step.

"You've need to apologize." I said softly. Sonic looked at me like I was crazy.

"No way!" Sonic cried out. But I shook my head and just sat down on the forest floor.

"I'm not going with you until you apologize. Not only that, I want you to invite him to join us. He has nowhere to go."

"NO NO NO NO! Court, I could handle the apologize thing. But let him join us!? That's just insane! It won't even be Team Sonic anymore if he joined!" Sonic said while he was shaking his arms repeatedly. Suddenly Dylan came to us and started jumping up and down.

"OH OH!!! Let's make a new team name!" He sounded excited.

"NOOO!!!" Sonic angrily refused. Shadow came up and pointed his right index finger on Sonic's chest.

"You've better let me join, unless I can just finish the fight right now."

"In your dreams, pal!" Sonic then pointed at Shadow. But before their argument continued or that the fight started again, Dylan just screamed out the new team name.

"TEAM HEDGEHOG!" He announced with a big grin on his face. And we all just blankly stared at him, and we all looked at each other.

"Team Hedgehog…" Sonic spoke with his arms crossed. "…I like it."


	13. Warmth

Chapter 13 Warmth

A new team name.

Of course all four of us liked the name, it's just things have been quiet while we were traveling near the end of Green Forest. Only me and Dylan were the only ones conversing, while Sonic and Shadow were separated in the back and front, refusing to talk or walk by each other. I was about to say a word to the pouting Sonic, till I saw Dylan placing his right index finger on the middle of his lips.

"It's best not to talk to them now; do you want to see another fight?" Dylan softly whispered. I made nod.

"Alright." I replied quietly, and then I saw Dylan making one of his goofy grins at me. I turned away, not trying to laugh, but a big smile was placed upon my face.

"Soooo…" Dylan said after that occurrence. "What shall be our next talking topic?"

"Don't know." I said while holding my left wrist behind my back, looking up to the sky. Only to see patches of the afternoon sunlight trying to pass through the thick green leaves up in the treetops. This made me wonder about something.

"Hey, does se—" _Poke_.

I looked of my left arm, seeing that a skinny long brown stick was poking at me. And I looked ahead, seeing that Dylan was the holder of the stick. He continued poking at me with it.

"Poke! Poke! Poke!" He said with his grinning face again. I laughed. And I tried looking on the ground to find my own stick. I found and grabbed one.

"I challenge you to a stick battle!" I pointed my long thick stick at Dylan. He then looked at his stick, then at mine.

"Hey! It would not be worthy match if your stick is longer and thicker than mine!" Dylan spoke in a different accent. Like a knight's.

"You've been playing too much Sonic and the Black Knight, haven't you?" I giggled. Meanwhile I saw Sonic perk up.

"May so! But now, I shall test your skill of the stick! Dame Courtney!"

"As so with I, Sir Dylan!" I played along, copying the accent.

We slashed sticks together. We were laughing together and having fun while playing our little game. But after five to six slashes, Dylan's stick broke in half. He fakily cried for a little while, and suddenly he said in a comedic careless tone:

"I let you win."

My laughs continued on as then I started poking at him on his arm now with my stick.

"Owwie. Owwie. Owwie." Dylan kept repeating after how many pokes I did to him. Then we'd just suddenly burst of loud laugher. It was soo loud, that it could be heard across this whole forest. I then suddenly felt a poke on my back.

I then turned around and saw Sonic with a stick. He smiled and laughed too.

"Mind if I challenge the winner?" The blue hedgehog asked politely. I raised my stick as my answer. "Defiantly."

"You're gonna lose!" Dylan sang along close to my ear. I gently shoved him away. "Ready?" I asked Sonic.

"I'm not gonna go easy on ya. They didn't call me Knight of the Wind for nothing!"

Still traveling, me and Sonic had our difficult, yet fun, stick battle. It was kinda hard fighting him while I was walking backwards, so Dylan led me into different areas so I won't be tripped by rocks, tree roots, etc. Meanwhile Shadow was watching us fight as well. He looked amused.

But in the end, Sonic had hit my stick so hard that it flew in the air and then crashed somewhere nearby in the forest. He won. But he didn't taunt or rubbed it in my face afterwards, like most people do. Instead, he made a wink and thumbs-up.

"Nice job, Court. You did very well."

"Thanks Sonic. You did well too." I made a cheerful smile. And then, I suddenly felt warm.

"Hey guys, think that we should stop? It's starting to get dark." Dylan pointed at the sky. Pass the leaves; I can see a deep light purplish-blue color painted in the sky, along with some stars appearing.

"Yes. It'll be the perfect time for us to stop here and rest." Shadow said deep, as always.

All of us agreed and then we gather around and sat by each other, getting ourselves comfortable. But I admit; I was a little cold.

"Let's have a campfire." Sonic announced. Me and Dylan were excited by that.

"Oh my God, we should get marshmallows for this campfire, and then it will totally be the perfect campfire ever!" Dylan joked around.

"Hotdogs would be great too." I added, as I was starting to have a flashback of my last campfire (or should I say bonfire) with my family and grandparents. That was fun.

Sonic chuckled. "Sorry guys, I don't have any food on me." He started to gather up firewood. Once he was done, he gently placed the wood close together in the middle of us four. Then he looked at Dylan.

"Hey Dylan, can you do the honors?" Sonic asked.

Dylan had gotten up and started to stretch, like he was preparing to do something far beyond great. I started to shake my head and smile and the same time. By the time he was done, a little flame appeared on the palm of his right gloved hand and then flung it onto the firewood. The fire started small but it slowly turned into perfect-sized campfire.

"Hey look there's a full moon in the sky." Sonic noticed while he was looking up. Dylan, Shadow, and I looked up as well. And saw that a big moon appeared right behind the trees.

"I wish I can turn into a werehog. Just imagine what I can do!" Dylan grew excited again. Sonic made a sigh.

"Being a werehog was fun and all, but I much rather being like this. Myself."

"Well I know you didn't like it, but I would have loved it! Being able to punch enemies from long distances with stretchy arms…man, just for one night I would _love_ being a werehog!"

Sonic made a soft giggle. "Yeah, well…The only reason why I didn't like it is because I looked like a monster to some people. I was unrecognizable. Amy didn't recognize me, even after she just hugged and then saw what I looked like."

"Sonic, Amy is an idiot." I mentioned. "She doesn't recognize anybody who she hugs. If I would've seen you like that, I would've known it was you."

Dylan leaned close to me. "Would you be _scared_?" I gave him a weird stare.

"No." I answered truthfully. Then Dylan shortly laughed afterwards.

"You would if I was around."

I heard Shadow growling. "It would be best if we rest now." He said darkly. Then Sonic started to chuckle up a storm. Shadow looked at him, furious.

"Do you know it's not even that late?"

"Do you know that you should shut up and sleep?!" Shadow looked like he was about to get up and strangle Sonic. "We're on an important mission here. And it'll be good for us all to restore ourselves for tomorrow. You will never know what Eggman would send next. And with me quitting my job, and also being here with you three, I'm sure the Doctor would probably send something that will have that height of level that would destroy the ultimate lifeform."

"Psh! Whatever." Sonic had his arms behind his head. "Even if I'm still weakened from today, I could beat any robot that's standing in front of me. Even if it'll be fifty-foot tall giant or small bot that can shoot a powerful enough rocket or laser beam. Eggman needs to try a little bit harder if he needs to destroy the fastest living being on this world." Sonic explained. He sounded laid-back.

"I then suggest that you should rest up…because not only the Doctor wants this world, but he desires the world in which they live in." Shadow pointed at Dylan and I. Sonic didn't look surprised. But in response, Sonic laid lower against the tree he leaned on.

"You worry too much, Shadow. But you'll see…you always see that every adventure or mission that I'm on, I always succeed at the end."

Shadow grunted. "You'll understand me one of these days." Then the black hedgehog closed his eyes shut. Afterwards, I softly heard him say 'Goodnight' to me.

After I looked and said my 'Goodnight' in return to Shadow, I looked back at Sonic, seeing his eyelids dropping. But he still struggled to stay up.

"Sonic, I know you want to stay up and all…but really, you should rest." Dylan said. "Yes, you should." I counted in.

Sonic sighed. "Fine, but you guys better sleep after me. You both need the rest too." He pointed at us with a smirk. Me and Dylan nodded. "We have your word."

It wasn't long till I watch Sonic slowly daze and started to sleep. Dylan, who was not that far away from me, started to yawn, and I could've sworn he was out too. But I remained awake. I looked at the stars through the leaves on top, and the moonlight from the moon that was strongly shining on me. My warmth began to decrease. As I looked at the fire, it was slowly becoming dimmer. I bet that by one tonight the fire would be gone. I huddled my arms, shivering.

"Can't sleep?" Dylan whispered to me. I flinched.

"Dylan!" I whispered harshly. He covered his laughter.

"Haha…that was funny. I can imagine seeing you watching a scary movie and doing that every time something pops up. No wonder you hate them…So, why aren't you sleeping?"

I looked at Dylan with a sort of happy yet sad look. "My brother."

"Don't tell me you were worried. If you did—"

"No, I wasn't." I interrupted. "For the first time I was thinking positive. I was thinking…maybe Eggman wouldn't be harsh a kid like him. Eggman wouldn't be that cruel, would he?"

I saw Dylan hesitate for a second but then he looked sure. "Nah, Eggman would never do anything monstrous on your brother. He'll be too busy whooping up his plans for his empire, Eggmanland, and blah blah. You played the games, soo you should know."

"I haven't played many, but yeah, I know what you mean." I said, huddling my arms again.

"You look cold." Dylan looked at the fire, not big as it used to be, than at me. "Do you want to get more close together? I might get you warm."

"No. I'll be fine." I gave him a weird smile, and then I started to rub my arms. He touched my left arm.

"Wow you are cold…scooting over." He moved.

"No. No! I'll be alright, trust me!" I begged him to stop. But he ignored me.

"There." Our shoulders touched. "Feel any better?"

"Sure." I pouted.

"If I was a werehog, I would've gotten you warmer." He whispered in my ear, and then he started to howl. And it didn't bother him that Sonic and Shadow might wake up from all that.

I thought at first that it was awkward, but after I heard him did it more than a couple times, I joined him on the last howl. We could've continued more, but we saw Sonic grumble and stir in his sleep. We quietly laughed afterwards.

"Haha…that was _fun_." Dylan chained his arms around me and gave me a short hug, then went back to his sleeping position. "Night, Court."

I yawned, and then I started to feel all warmer inside. So warm in fact, I didn't feel any coldness at all. And with Dylan by me, I almost felt hot (Imagine what the werehog can do O.o). This warmth, I felt a little of it earlier while all four of us were walking and having fun. It felt like the sun is shining on me, deep inside. Maybe this is how it feels not to worry soo much.

"Night, Dylan." I gave him a little hug back and then went back to my laying position. Gently yet slowly, I closed my eyes. Smiling.

And I wish it could stay like that…forever.

* * *

"Gah! This is impossible! Almost half of robot army destroyed!? Unbelieveable!" Eggman yelled furiously at the computer screen. He sent a couple robots to spy to see if the mechs were successfully doing their job, but instead they found pieces of scrap metal everywhere. Eggman plunged his fists onto the keyboard.

"Raaggh! I wouldn't have this problem if Shadow was around! If he would've brought the sister here, everything would be fine! And now she's the cause of all my problems! And to make things worse, she has a friend traveling with her from her world too! And he has a much greater power than her own!" The Doctor punched the keyboard again, and wept.

"Wait." Eggman suddenly rose up, an idea popped into his head.

"My new model of Metal Sonic…I forget that I completed it months ago. Heheh!" Eggman laughed as he began pushing buttons on the keyboard.

"With that new model that I've created, all four of them, even Shadow wouldn't even stand a chance!" Eggman pushed the final button, which pulled out a lever.

"Ha!" Eggman laughed as he pulled the lever, now seeing a message on the computer screen saying that the latest model of Metal Sonic had been activated and released. Not only that, another message appeared soon after.

"Oooh what's this?...Memory removal has been completed. Oh yes!" Eggman squealed with delight. He then ran to the next room, seeing a strapped little black and green hedgehog with countless cords attached to his head. He moaned.

"Wake up!" Eggman sounded excited. "Now tell me, what's your sister's name?"

The little hedgehog opened his eyes and blinked a few. He looked confused at the Doctor.

"Sister…? What sister?" He mumbled.

"Wahahaha!" Eggman laughed uncontrollably. Then he clenched his fist together and made an evil smile.

"This is one step closer to a world, two worlds that would become mine! Eggmanlands will soon become to be! Hehehe! How are you going to defeat me this time…Sonic?"


	14. Bloom City

Chapter 14 Bloom City

Light was trying to pass through my eyelids again, saying that I should wake up and it's morning.

I moaned, and for once I just wanted to sleep a little longer. With all this happening, I barely got to sleep in. And this is supposed to be summer vacation!

A big yawn bursted out somewhere close, and it make me scrunch my eyes and hid away my face on the warm thing I was laying on.

"Aaaahh! What a nice sleep! Hhmm!" I heard Sonic say. I heard some bones pop, meaning that he up and stretching, then I heard his footsteps coming near where I was. When he stopped, I heard Sonic let out some laughter.

"Rise and shine!" I heard him say to me.

I moaned again, and the thing I was lying on began to move, moaning as well. When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw I was resting on Dylan's shoulder the whole time. He yawned and looked at me with a tired face, no shock at all. He must be half-asleep. But I wasn't.

"Ah!" I said as I quickly got up from my position. Now I was standing right in front of him, rapidly moving my arms apologizing while he looked at me wide-eyed.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry…" It kept going on.

"Court! Court! Court!" Dylan yelled my name three times, enough to make me stop. I looked at him, innocent.

"I'm really am sorry! I was asleep, and I—"

"Court!" He yelled my name again. I stopped for real this time.

"It's fine." He continued. "People don't know what they're going to do when they're asleep. And besides, you were probably cold. That might be the reason you slept on my shoulder. I _am_ the hedgehog of fire, y'know!" Dylan pointed at himself, proudly. I continuously looked at him with an embarrassed smile.

"Did I make a nice pillow?" He joked around.

"Yeah…" I said and then turned to Sonic. "Are we ready to go?" Sonic shook his head and pointed to Shadow, lying against a tree still sleeping calmly.

"Until Mr. Resty over here decides to wake up." Then suddenly he began to smirk.

"Why don't we just ditch him? Hehehe!" Sonic whispered to me, happy with his idea. But a voice boomed, "I heard that!" We both turned and saw Shadow with one of his eyes open.

Sonic laughed nervously. "Soo ready to go?" he asked. Shadow stood up from his spot and grunted.

"Most certainly." He said and then started to walk off, suddenly decided to make himself leader again. Sonic growled, raced after him, and then grabbed one of his arms.

"Hey you mostly led yesterday! I think it's my time to lead!" Sonic said. Shadow grunted again and lowered his eyelids at him.

"You're forgetting that I know where the base is. If you want to get to the Doctor's base quickly, and with not much mech obstacles in the way, it'll be best if I'm the leader."

Sonic continued to hold Shadow's right arm and grumbled.

"Sonic, just let him lead us." Dylan said to the blue hedgehog. "I know you don't like him and all…"

"…but he'll get us to my brother quickly, please." I finished Dylan's sentence.

Sonic looked back at us, seeing his now-changed expression. And then he scrunched his eyes and turned to the ground.

"F-Fine!" He let go of Shadow.

"Wise choice…let's go." Shadow left off without warning again. And we rushed up to get close.

Along the way out of the forest and to the open plain Dylan and I talked, Sonic pouted, and Shadow silently led the way. It was just like the last time. But the only difference is that since we didn't have anything to eat yesterday, we started complaining about food. And we all begged Shadow to stop somewhere to eat.

"I craving for a chili dog now…man, sounds good…" Sonic said closing his eyes, daydreaming about eating his favorite food.

"Chinese food...orange chicken, fried rice, crab rangoon...oh my God, yum." I daydreamed too. I think all of us were daydreaming eating our favorite foods, except for Shadow. He was growing tired of our food talk.

"I see a town up ahead." I heard Shadow say in his grumpy voice. All three of us quickly opened our eyes and looked ahead. Shadow was right. Just right through the grassy covered hills in the distance, was a town.

"It's a miracle!" Dylan said cheery. I laughed.

"Beat ya guys there!" Sonic sounded excited. I bet half of his excitement is to finally run and lead again.

Sonic made an early start and started dashing for the hills. Shadow, Dylan, and I soon followed afterwards. Following the blue blur.

"Looks like Sonic forgot his running buddy again." Dylan said while running along-side me. I laughed again.

"Well he has a lot on his mind, I wouldn't blame him." I said. The town was creeping closer to us. But as we got closer, the town grew bigger before our eyes. It wasn't a town… a city.

As we finally got there, it immediately took my breath away. There was every kind of flower that anybody could think of in this city. There were flowers everywhere! On the ground and on up to the top of the buildings, flowers, flowers, flowers...

"Wow." I said gazing right at the entrance of the city. When I looked up, I saw a sign crafted with the city's name, Bloom City (AN: not a Sonic place, I decided to make one up).

"Wow." I said again. From the front, Sonic turned to make a smile at me.

"You really like this place do you?" He continued to grin.

"Well yeah! What girl won't like flowers? I would definitely live in this city if I lived here in this world…"

Sonic made a weird smile, and then in a flash, he was gone. Wind blew all over our faces whenever he sped away.

"What was up with him?" Dylan un-covered his eyes from Sonic's wind, now we saw petals dancing everywhere in the city from it.

"Who knows…" Shadow wasn't curious. "Let's just find something to eat and get going; Sonic will keep up."

"Do we have to leave soo soon?" I said spinning around with the petals in the air, smiling. "And besides, we need to find the rest of the Chaos Emeralds. There might be one hiding in the city somewhere, who knows?"

Shadow did a face-palm. "Yes, forgot about them. Thanks for the reminder."

"No problem Shadow." I answered, still spinning. Dylan laughed.

"Court, there's no more petals in the air." He pointed out.

"Yeah but I like spinning!" I spun myself faster, and laughed while I did.

"Goofball…" I saw Dylan shake his head, smiling too. This made me stop and grab his hands and started spinning around together.

"Haha! You're right, spinning is _fuuunnn_!" He enjoyed himself.

"Told ya!" I sounded cheerful.

"Guys, are you coming are not?" Shadow made a look on us both; he was already farther into the city. "If you need to eat then, let's go."

Dylan and I instantly stopped. "Coming!" We both said cheery. And then followed Shadow deeper into the city.

~~~***~~~

I wasn't long when we ate. Shadow spotted a bakery and just went in there without saying anything before we ever got the chance to go in. He got out quickly, holding two round doughnuts in each of his hands and gave it to the two of us.

"Thanks Shadow!" Dylan and I said, hyper already. With the doughnuts included, we'll be bouncing off walls. As I started eating mine, I saw Shadow staring into space doing nothing.

"How come you didn't get one Shadow?" I asked him. He turned to me with a less grouchy face.

"I don't need to eat, I'm immortal." He answered. But it just left me ripping a piece of my soft sugary pastry, to him.

"No." He refused. But I still held it out to him till he finally took it, and ate it. Meanwhile Dylan was jumping, full of energy. He grabbed my hand.

"C'mon Court, let's see what other stuff is in this city!" He said excitedly. I made a smile.

"Yeah, let's look for Sonic while we're at it too." And then we took off before Shadow said anything to reject it.

We went from block to block, store to store, garden to garden, but I made him stop on the one in the middle of the city. There were huge amounts of flowers in that place, plus, there was a beautifully decorated marble fountain in the middle of the garden. Dylan looked uninterested.

"Let's go Court, I bet there are more awesome stores in that side of the city." Dylan tugged me, but I stuck standstill.

"No, I like this place…" The warmth that I had before was returning again in my body.

"Psh, you girls and flowers…I'm going to be on the other side of the city, ok?" He released me and ran over to the other side.

"Alright." I answered late. I walked over to the fountain's side and sat right on it. I looked below and saw the water, seeing little tiny ripples waving across it. But other than that I saw me in a wavy reflection. Me in my hedgehog self…

_Being like this is cool and all, but I sort of miss being me…human._

As I continued to look, I saw new reflections in the water. Mech reflections. I quickly got up and saw that I was surrounded by them. How can they appear if I didn't hear them!? They rose up their arms ready to shoot. I was about to call for help, that is till I stopped and smirked.

"You know, I don't need anybody to destroy all you. My anger is going to wipe you all out!"

I didn't have to use my force field. I just jumped, dodged, and destroyed three with my homing attack. But as I got back on the ground, a sphere of blue energy got around me. A mech was using a power that caged me inside. I punched, I kicked, nothing worked. Time for the yelling…

"Shadow! Sonic! Dylan! Help! Anybody!?" I yelled. And I repeated the same thing three times. The mech that got me was starting to take me away, along with its buddies.

"NOOO!"

"Let her go!" A familiar voice yelled. A blue flash came right after the robot that had me, and went right through the damned thing. Sonic!

It wasn't only him though; I saw some flaming action going on meaning Dylan was helping out. And I heard some Chaos Controls being thrown there too, Shadow was also here too.

"Finally you decided to show up." Shadow said annoyed while he finished with the last mech. Sonic came to help me up.

"Thanks." I said embarrassed. He smiled. "No prob." And he revealed a short green stem filled with five little sky blue flowers on top. A forget-me-not.

The blue hedgehog laughed nervously. "Sorry for not being here sooner, I was looking all over the city to find a flower for you." I took it.

"Sonic…you didn't have to do that." I laughed and shook my head at him.

"Yeah, but you looked like you liked flowers a lot, soo yeah! That's my favorite flower by the way." He made a big grin. "And while I was looking for that, the watch that Tails gave me started to beep. And it told me that there was a Chaos Emerald in the city."

"What!?" I, Dylan, and Shadow freaked. "Did you get it!?" The black hedgehog demanded. Sonic replied by reaching something out from his back and revealed…nothing.

"Whoops must've dropped it somewhere." Sonic snickered. Shadow deeply growled and at the same time, dashed into the city again.

"You lost it!?" Me and Dylan shrieked. But as his answer, Sonic there revealed a bright purple gem. The purple Chaos Emerald.

"Shadow's not gonna like that." Dylan said, looking back, seeing the black hedgehog skate more into the city. I could imagine what Shadow would do to the blue hedgehog when he gets back…but on the good side, we now have two Chaos Emeralds.


	15. Metal Sonic and a Dark awakening

Chapter 15 Metal Sonic and a Dark awakening

"Owww!" The blue hedgehog yelped in pain. Shadow was continuing to punch Sonic in the head, till I saw him raise his fist soo high up above the blue hedgehog's noggin and gave him his final—yet very painful—punch. Dylan and I shrouded our heads, thinking how much that would've hurt him.

"Those earlier punches was for tricking me." Shadow said in his normal deep and mysterious voice. Sonic gotten up from the ground and continually rubbed his head.

"And the last one?!" Sonic gave a growl.

Shadow only returned a glare, and then continued to lead the way like always. Sonic growled louder.

"What did I do to deserve the final punch!?" He yelled, demanding an answer. Then Shadow spoke: "You should know." I saw him giving a soft look at me, while I was holding the forget-me-not that Sonic had given me. I looked at the flower then back at Shadow, who now was looking ahead again while leading.

_Oh I see…_

Just to settle things, I caught up with Shadow in the front and glomped him from the back. He immediately stopped.

"You're my favorite." I whispered in his left ear, and then I let him go. I walked back to my usual walking place by Dylan in the back and while doing so, Sonic gave me a curious look at me.

"What did you say?" Dylan whispered as we continued to walk. I made a soft laugh.

"Yeah Court, what did you say?" Sonic was immediately on the other side of me, completely spacious. My soft laugh turned nervous.

"Nothing…nothing at all." I tried to say as calmly as possible. "I just gave him a hug."

"Courtney…" Sonic said seriously, I shook my head repeatedly.

"Nothing!" I yelled. "Let just say that Shadow is going to be less grumpy now."

Sonic quickly pointed his right index finger at me. "So you did _say_ something!"

"No!"

Sonic then sighed. "Fine…then you leave me no choice." He smirked while he grabbed hold of one of my wrists. Then he started to dash forward.

"Sonic!" I digged my heels of my shoes into the dirt to make the speedy hedgehog stop, but no luck. Sonic was already past Shadow now.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shadow said a little ticked, seeing his rival pass him. Sonic laughed.

"Just gonna torture Court with my speed for a little while, until she confesses!" Sonic looked at me whenever he said the last word of his sentence. I struggled to get free.

"I have nothing to confess!" I kept yelling.

"Sonic! Get back here! You have no idea where you're going! Think. Do you want to play games? Or save your partner's brother?" Shadow said in a growly voice, full of anger now.

Sonic didn't reply. The only thing he did was grabbing me up into his arms, and started to dash off again. Even though we were that far away—even if from a few steps from Sonic—I could hear Shadow screaming the blue hedgehog's name in strain. Meanwhile, Sonic was accelerating more and more.

"Stop Sonic!" I yelled louder now, the wind was whipping at us hard in the front from the speed that I could barely hear. And my eyes closed again, just like the last time.

"Unless you confess. Haha that rhymed!" The blue hedgehog laughed at his own joke. I continued to watch the trail ahead of us, getting farther away from our team. I had to do something quick.

"Fine! I'll confess!" I yelled once more. Sonic speeded to a stop.

"Alright! 'bout time!" He let me down. "Ok, what did you say to Shadow?"

"That…" _Think Court think._

"I loved cupcakes." I made up a lie and made a break for it. But as soon I was running back, Sonic was already on the side of me, ready to grab my wrist again.

He chuckled. "Court, you can't run away from me. I'm the fastest thing alive!" His hand was that close to grabbing mine. But then, I made my violet force field spread around me, now separating the both of us.

"Yeah, but I'm the most protected thing alive here. Haha!" I laughed and forced my protected violet sphere to continue to go where I was heading. Sonic made a smirkish smile while he was following along behind.

"You may be right about that, but your sphere can't last forever!" He said while he ran.

Just after ten seconds, my purplish force field disappeared. And then the speedy blue hedgehog pounced right on me, forcing me to fall to the ground and both roll around in the grassy plain. We laughed.

"Haha…" Sonic laughter slowed as he laid his back on the grass with his arms spreaded. "Wow that was fun. But really, what did you say to Shadow?"

I was in the same position as Sonic. "Guess?"

"…I know." Sonic lowered his eyelids. "Just wanted you to say it. I still don't know why you like him best."

I made a soft chuckle. "I could list a bunch of reasons. But I told you, it's almost of a tie between you and him. You both have different personalities, which both that I like. That is why it's hard for me to choose one of you."

Silence swept over us for a little while, getting distracted by the painted light blue sky and the white cotton clouds floating by up above. Sonic then spoke.

"When you're back, back in your own world…I want you to remember this place. That this isn't some fantasy world, video game, or dream…remember everything you've experienced here was real. All real."

"Sonic…" I whispered his name. He stood up, still looking up at the cloudy sky.

"I can already tell that this adventure is half over." Sonic continued. "But still, there is still plenty more for us to do before it ends…So, are you prepared for what awaits us, Court?—he said while holding out his hand to me—We gotta give it our all, and stop at nothing to collect the remaining Chaos Emeralds!"

I grabbed his hand, and he pulled me up.

"Yes, and I'll always be prepared for everything. And what you said before, I wouldn't forget about you or this world. Not even if I tried." I winked. Sonic laughed.

"Haha Alright! Happy to hear that!" He sounded and looked happy. "Let's go back before Shadow has a breakdown…ugh, don't want him hurting me again." Sonic rubbed his head and winced as he touched his sores. I laughed.

"Don't worry; I'll just convince him not to punch you." I smiled. "Shadow will always listen to me."

"I hope so." He said as we started to walk back. But as I took one more glance at the clouds, I saw something shiny heading towards us. A meteor? No…

As it got closer, I saw it was blue and saw bright red lights in the front. It was either a missile or a mech.

Well guess it's time to figure that out now!

"Sonic!" I rushed to the back of him and made my violet sphere cover us both. As I looked at the thing while it crashed onto my shield, I widened my eyes in shock. Seeing a robot in Sonic form.

_Metal Sonic!?_

CRASH!!!

The force of robot was soo great that shield wasn't that strong enough for me to hold. My power repealed me and Sonic and I were sent flying backward.

As we met the ground again, we crashed and continued to do rolls on the long grassy plain. Sonic was the first to get up.

"Courtney?!" He said my name fully in worry. Once he reached me I was about to pass out.

"Ugh…my head." I said painfully. "I think…I think I landed my head on the ground—Ah!" I touched my head.

"Just hang on Court; I'll finish this scrap metal of a faker in a matter of seconds. Just hang on!" Sonic grabbed a hold of my right gloved hand that once was on my head. My eyes begun to slowly shut, the pain was closing in on me. The last thing I saw was Sonic's worried-sick face.

"Sonic…" I whispered his name once again. And before I knew it, darkness approached me.

* * *

"…and that is how I like Sonic soo much." Dylan had finished up with another conversation while he and Shadow continue to travel. Shadow looked liked he was going to lose it.

"Speaking of Sonic, he and Court have been gone for a long time now. Think we should run and try to find them?" The orange hedgehog continued as he now crossed his arms behind his head, calmly, while he continued to walk. Shadow stopped.

"Ah!" Dylan accidently ran into the black and red hedgehog. And quickly took steps back.

"I'll give him five minutes to bring her back here. If he doesn't, I'll just simply teleport to him and take Court myself. We have no time for fooling around." Shadow said seriously, not turning back to see Dylan's expression. Then he was back to walking.

There, the fiery hedgehog continued to walk again. Now, he was slowly and quietly following behind Shadow. While doing so, his thoughts took over his head. He didn't want to bother Shadow again when he's ticked like this.

_Hurry Sonic. I don't want you getting hammered in the noggin again…I hope nothing bad has happened._

* * *

"COURT! HANG ON!" Sonic had yelled to Court for the hundredth time. But there was no movement from her. She was passed out.

_She risked her life to protect me!? But why!?_

"Target 2: Sister has been eliminated. Target 1: Sonic the Hedgehog must be destroyed." Metal Sonic spoke. It almost sounded like real Sonic himself.

Sonic stood up with anger written all over his face. He continued to look at Court motionless, and then started to growl deep in his throat.

"After fighting with you countless times in the past…now I had enough…This is where you cross the line!"

Metal Sonic didn't reply, the only he did is dash forward Sonic with stupendous speed. When he was halfway there, he reached out his metallic arms to capture him.

But during all this, dark black and purplish energy began surrounding Sonic. And once Metal Sonic had to chance to grab him, Sonic quickly reacted and tore off both of Metal's arms while speeding the opposite direction from the robot. Bright golden sparks were flying off were the arms were.

Sonic turned around and looked at his astonishment with his now non-pupil eyes. His blue body had now turned pitch black. He evilly chuckled.

"Fourth of July already? Hmm thought it'll be later…" he said sarcastically. Metal Sonic struggled to continue his mission. But this time he walked instead.

"Must…destroy—Sonic…Target 1…" He was malfunctioning. Sonic evilly chuckled again.

"Ooohh, sounds like you're in pain buddy." Again he said sarcastic tone. "Here—" In a few steps he was in front of his metal twin. And then he punched his right gloved fist right through the middle of Metal Sonic, thus causing more sparks to fly.

"—let me help you." Sonic finished.

Metal Sonic was lifeless now; Sonic had destroyed him in matter of a minute. The dark hedgehog then released his fist from the sharp hot metal and there he saw bombs revealing in the inside of his metal twin. He smirked.

Sonic grabbed the broken down robot, twirled him around three times, and then thrown him far across the plains. After the broken down mech crashed, a large explosion occurred. Sonic's smirk had grown larger once he saw the fire and smoke in the distance.

"It's the price to pay if you hurt somebody I care for." He shook his head. "We would have a more decent battle too if you didn't push the limits…"

Sonic did another chuckle and soon turn his attention from the result of the explosion, to Courtney. He walked slowly to her and reached out his right injured hand, to touch her.

"Court…"

But before Sonic ever got the chance, a flash of green energy appeared right behind him and was kicked on the side of the head.

"AH!" Sonic yelped in pain. He hesitated then looked back to see who could have done such a foolish thing. It was none other than Shadow.

"Don't you dare touch her." Shadow started. "Not when you're like this…"

"I can touch her whenever I feel like it!" Sonic growled deep again. "And I don't need you popping in telling me what to do!" He quickly attacked Shadow, but he blocked him and managed to teleport into a different spot.

"You got to learn to control your anger…"

"I don't need to learn anything!"

"Courtney will be fine Sonic! She's not gone forever!"

"I know that!"

"Then change back!"

Sonic growled again, louder this time. "I will after I'll defeat you!"

The fight soon began between the black and dark hedgehogs. Punches were thrown, kicks were held, and it seemed to last forever. Soon, Dylan appeared and looked at the terrifying scene, and then looked at the ground to see a passed out Courtney lying motionless on the grass. He rushed to her.

"Court! Court!" He called and bent down to get a good look at his friend. Nervously, he touched her center and felt her heart still beating. He sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness." He softly said and then turned more attention to the fight between Dark Sonic and Shadow. He made a glare.

"Ugh!" Shadow grunted as he was punched on the side of his face. He fell down backward because of the force and Sonic was right there on top of him, ready to punch Shadow again.

"You wouldn't dare." Shadow said deeply, Sonic did another one of his evil chuckles.

"I would…"

Balls of flame were then shot on Sonic's right side. He again yelped in pain and quickly turned to see Dylan holding two flames on each of his hands.

"Sonic! It's time to come back to your senses! Please, I don't want to hurt you again!" Dylan yelled with a serious expression on his face. "Remember, we're a team!"

Sonic blinked a couple of times, and then his pupils had reappeared on his eyes again. And then his black covered body slowly turned back to its normal blue color.

"Dyl—" Sonic begun to say with a smile on his face, but soon he tilted sideways, falling down to ground passed out as well. The orange hedgehog quickly rushed to the scene.

"Oh God…did I—"

"No, it wasn't your fault." Shadow stood up. "He must have passed out by fighting Metal Sonic and well as myself. His anger wasted soo much of his energy..."

"Metal Sonic!?" The fiery hedgehog yelled surprised. Shadow made a short nod.

"Yes, that was the first place I teleported to, the spot of the explosion. Thing had no match against Sonic's anger."

Dylan observed Sonic some more. "Hey, he looks a little bit injured too. His right glove is ripped and has blood stains all over."

"We need to find another place to rest; luckily I can see another town not far from here. Think you can manage carrying Court?"

Dylan nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"Ok, then I'll be carrying Sonic." Shadow decided. Dylan made an untruthful stare.

"What?" Shadow asked. Dylan made a short giggle.

"Nothing, just know that you don't like Sonic much." He explained. Shadow grunted.

"True…but without him, I don't know if this world would be like it is today. I may be the ultimate lifeform, I might do the same heroic deeds, but I couldn't do the same job as him if he were gone. Hmph…Sometimes I wish I was nicer to him."

Dylan smiled. "Well just try, being nice isn't that hard!" His smile increased.

"Easy for you to say." The black hedgehog picked up Sonic, and begun walking away. Now heading for their next resting place.

"Hey, wait!" Dylan cried and dashed towards Court and carefully picked her up from the grassy ground, and then started running back, catching up.

"You'll be ok Court," Dylan started, looking down on his friend. "cause the firehawg isn't leaving your side!"


	16. Silver’s Appearance

**AN: Wow, I typed 9 pages for this chapter! I feel so proud of myself ^_^**

Chapter 16 Silver's Appearance

Darkness.

That was what it was all around me, swirling shades of darkness. Everywhere I turn, I couldn't escape it. While I was searching for a way out, I suddenly noticed that I was back in my human form. What the heck was going on here?

"Courtney…" A voice whispered my name. As I turned around to find the source of the voice, I saw my brother, all fine and well. Without any second thought, I ran non-stop towards him. But with each step I took, it seem like he was getting farther and farther away. After my last step, he was gone.

"Kyle!?" I called his name and tears begun to form in my green eyes. The same voice called my name again, but countless times this time.

But I ignored as I continued where I left off in running. In the path where I was running, a giant mech was in the way, and on the mech was Eggman laughing hysterically.

"You…What did you do with my brother!?" That was the first thing I asked. Eggman continued to laugh.

"Hahaha! I'm not going to tell you my dear…and besides, you won't get to see him. Because you'll be dead before you know it!"

Soon after his last word, Eggman rose the left foot of the giant robot above me, ready to crush upon my death. The voice continued to say my name, and it gotten louder and louder…

"Bye bye, Sister!" Eggman yelled happily as he made the foot of the robot fall down, ready to crush me.

"COURTNEY!"

"Ahh!" I yelled, and sprung up from a soft surface. My head felt hot, and I can tell because sweat begun to drip from my face. My vision was fuzzy as well, but after I blinked a couple of times, I saw Shadow sitting across the bed that I was resting on.

"Shadow!?" I yelled his name immediately. "What happened!? Where am I!?"

"Calm down…you were having a nightmare." He told me. My fast breathing had slowed. "A dream?"

The black hedgehog nodded.

"Oh…thank God…" I said relieved. "Where's Sonic?"

Shadow closed his eyes, and then moved his head to my answer. I looked in his direction and saw Sonic lying on another bed closely to ours, all bandaged up.

"Sonic!?" I jolted up, but Shadow prevented me from moving more, and placed me back on the bed.

"He's fine. Just needs rest all day tomorrow. You do too. Apparently you have a huge sore on your head. Did you fall?"

Flashbacks had begun to flip fast through my mind. I remember.

"Yeah, I crashed my head on the ground. It happened when Metal Sonic was too strong for my shield and made us fly way up in the air. But after the crash, all I saw was Sonic hovering over me. Repeating the same words he said, and his worried face…Is Sonic like this because of Metal Sonic?"

Shadow shook his head. "No…"

"No? Then what—"

"He did this to himself."

My eyes widened. "What?"

Shadow grunted. "He must of turned dark after what happened to you. And with him being like that, he completely destroyed the new model of Metal Sonic without any trouble at all. And he was also close of wounding me, whenever I stepped in."

"How did he turn back to himself?"

Shadow grunted again. "Thank your friend for that." He looked at the end of the bed we were on, a sleeping Dylan was there.

I made a soft chuckle; in the meantime, Shadow stood up and went right to the door in this small hotel room. "Shadow." I called.

He stopped and turned to look with his normal expression that he always looks at me with. "I'm going to be in town for awhile, seeing if I can accomplish finding anything from there. You on the other hand…sleep. It's two in the morning."

And then I saw him turn around, open the door, went through, and close. And it just left me here awake with a lamp on, and with two sleeping hedgehogs. I didn't want to sleep right away, just after I had a freaky nightmare. I sighed.

"Well…" I looked at the nightstand where the lamp was at, and grabbed the only remote laying on top of it, then huddled myself more on the blankets on the bed. Getting comfortable.

"…let's see what's on TV."

* * *

It wasn't long till Shadow entered out of the hotel. He was now walking the streets, looking at the road ahead of him while he gripped hold of Sonic's watch, which he secretly borrowed while he was bandaging him.

_This watch will tell me if a Chaos Emerald is near._ Shadow thought to himself, as he gripped the watch tighter.

_I won't rest till I accomplish something tonight._

All the town's lights were off, meaning everybody was sleeping in town. The only light that shown was the faint crescent moon in the night sky. Shadow smirked. He knew that this darkness was his playground, his domain. And he knew what to do if an enemy was to step into it.

Shadow felt a presence nearby, and felt it earlier before, and he didn't need a sound to know it. It was quiet for just him to travel alone at night…too quiet. Also, he felt like this presence was following him somehow.

It wasn't long till he finally heard something, something ahead. And also wasn't long till Sonic's watch started to beep out of nowhere.

As the signal gotten closer, Shadow spotted a glowing turquoise colored Chaos Emerald in the middle of the sidewalk. Shadow stopped in front of it and stared at the energy-powered gem. He waited a little while, and then grab the glowing Chaos Emerald. There, he felt the same presence sneaking up from behind, ready to attack. But Shadow did a smirk, dodged the attack, and managed to kick the one who attacked, in the head. He or she fell with a painful grunt. But with the telling of the voice, it was a he.

"Hmph, you possibly think I could fall for that trick. Who are you? And why are you following me?" Shadow asked the stranger.

By the light of the Chaos Emerald, the stranger looked like a white kind of his species. A white hedgehog. But he looked futuristic than present-like. He got up slowly with an angry look on his face.

"I'm Silver, Silver the Hedgehog." The white hedgehog announced his name. "And for the safety of my future. You must die…Shadow!"

* * *

"No. No. Nope." I continued to say as I was flipping through channels on the TV. I could have figured that there will be awesome stuff on TV in the Sonic world, but I guess I was wrong. It was no different from the channels back in my world.

I pressed the power button on the remote and turned the TV off. Now leaving me back in the position I was.

I looked at Dylan in front of me, stirring in his sleep. He was continuously moving himself, and other yet, talking in his sleep. But I couldn't understand what he was saying though, probably mumbling random stuff.

_Hard to tell if he's having a good or a bad dream. But anyways, it's kinda funny to watch him sleep like this._

After watching and giggling for a good fifteen minutes. I decided to get up from the bed, to get a good look on Sonic. As I got to him, he was slowly breathing. Sleeping peacefully. But other than that, I couldn't believe that he isn't hurting from the wounds he received. There were bandages on his right hand, his left leg, and a couple on both of his arms.

"Sonic…" I whispered his name. I reached to touch his injured right hand, to check if Shadow did well in the bandaging. But as was beginning to feel the texture of the bandage, Sonic's hand grabbed a hold of mine. I flinched.

I looked back at Sonic, seeing a grin was made across his face.

_I'm confused…Is he sleeping, or isn't he. Looks like he's pretending._

"Nothing starts…until you take action…just raise….your…head..and run."

He was sleeping, and dreaming too. Also, I heard him say those lines before. He said that to Elise in the game.

_Is he dreaming about her?_

Poke.

"Eh?" I squeaked as I slowly turned to see who was who poked me. It was Dylan of course.

"Thanks for waking me up right after I had the worst dream ever." He grumbled. "Do you know I was being chased!?"

"Shhh!" I hushed and pointed at Sonic. "Your role model is sleeping you know?"

"Yes. I can see that. But let's talk about me! I was being chased by—Whoa, why is Sonic holding on to your hand!?"

I made a nervous laugh. "It's not what it looks like!"

"Yes huh! Then why are you two holding hands!? Hmm!?"

"Shhhhh!" I hushed again. "This only happened because I wanted to check if Shadow did a good job bandaging him. But while I was touching the bandage, he just grabbed hold of my hand."

Dylan gave an unsure look at me.

"It's true!"

"Yeah...sure…"

I made a growl. "Look, can you help me out of letting him let go of me?"

Dylan quickly shook his head. "You didn't help me out with my problem, why help you? Hmmm!?"

"Dylan, please…" I made a serious yet sad look. Dylan looked at me for a little while, and then he quickly scrunched his eyes.

"Ok! I believe you! I was going to help you out anyways." He made a short laugh.

"Yay!"

Dylan quickly jumped off from the bed, and went over by my side.

"Hope I don't wake him." Dylan whispered as he touched Sonic's hand, as well as my own. He gently opened up the fingers from Sonic's hand, and then very slowly took my hand away from his palm.

"Thanks Dylan." I said as he realized my hand. "I owe you one."

"Psh! No you don't."

I lowered my eyelids. "I do."

"You don't, you already given me much already!"

"Like what?"

Dylan did a face palm. "You know silly; all of those drawings you given me in the past. Remember in art class?"

I closed my eyes and made the memories flow in my mind. Sixth hour art class. If we both wouldn't have had that class together, we wouldn't be best friends as we are now. We had an awesome time in that hour. But it's sad that we won't have that class next school year. I hope we get another class together next year.

"Of course I do, I'm not that stupid. But that isn't enough…"

"Court." Dylan interrupted me. "You're a freaking awesome artist; your pictures do mean much. So don't say you owe anything, 'cause you don't." He winked.

I sighed. "If you say so."

I peeked at Sonic one more time to see if he was still sleeping after that discussion, and he was. Sleeping peacefully. But soon after, I heard a crash somewhere, outside in town. I can tell Dylan had heard it too.

"Hear that?" He asked me. I slowly did a nod.

"Shadow…he's outside in town. Something must've happened!" I panicked.

He rashly grabbed my hand, and started dashing wards the door. "Then let's hurry! Is your head fine, by the way?"

"It is, I'll be fine! Just run Dylan!"

And that's all we did till Shadow was in our sight.

* * *

"Me? Destroy your future? You have mistaken…" Shadow asked confusingly. Silver continued to point his right index finger at Shadow, accusing him.

"It wasn't just you; you were with another person as well. A man named Dr. Eggman. You both had destroyed the future, and it's because of you two that this world is in ruins now!"

"Me!? Me being with that foolish Doctor again!? You really must be joking! Deep within my darkened soul…I deeply hate that man, and no way in hell that I would team up with him again! And destroy the world with him!"

Silver glared. "I'm not lying; all of what I said was the pure truth. You are going to face your death tonight, Shadow the Hedgehog. Whatever you like it or not! I will save the future!" He revealed another Chaos Emerald behind his back.

Shadow's eyes widened.

_Another Chaos Emerald? Of course, without two of those gems, he wouldn't have teleported here into an earlier point in time. Should have known he would've had another one._

Silver gripped his blue chaos emerald, and then started to dash towards Shadow. He wasn't as fast, which made Shadow had enough time to teleport to another spot with his now-gotten Chaos Emerald.

When he appeared to another spot, Silver almost seemed miles away from him. But in that moment, the white hedgehog flew up in the sky with a turquoise-color like energy. Once he was on the ground again, he was close to Shadow, and he trapped him in the same kind of turquoise energy he had before. Shadow froze, he couldn't move.

"What is this!?" Shadow spoke through his teeth.

"Psychokinesis. It's the power I'm going to destroy you with!" Silver yelled and then forced Shadow to a nearby building, thus causing some trash cans that were nearby the building, to fall over. They crashed into the ground.

Shadow fell down from the wall he was pushed into, and made quick breaths. He didn't think that this enemy was going to be this hard. How was he going to defeat a hedgehog like this?

His breath ended short and was now trapped again in that turquoise energy. Silver was there in front of him, with a revengeful look in his eyes.

"I don't die that easy!" Shadow yelled at him, Silver smirked.

"Well, I'll just keep trying till I will!"

Before Silver gotten the chance to throw Shadow again, he heard footsteps close to them. And as he turned around, he saw a black and purple hedgehog, and an orange one. They looked shocked.

"Silver!?"

* * *

We saw Shadow lying beside a building with a glowish energy around him. And with that cause of that energy, it's got to be from Sliver. He was also there in front of us, now with shocked face on us.

"How?...How did you know I'm Silver?" He asked us.

_I'm kinda tired of repeating the explanation._

"Because we seen you in the video games that we play back in our world." Dylan explained in my place.

"Video games? I'm confused…What?"

While Silver was trying to figure things out, Shadow was up on his feet again, ready to punch the living daylights out of him. I quickly ran to him and shield us both from the punch.

"Courtney!?" Shadow looked shocked at me. "He's the enemy!"

"Shadow trust me, he's not an enemy…If you just let me and Dylan explain things, you'll understand."

It took awhile for Shadow to answer, but he agreed to me. For the past half hour, we've been standing in the town's streets, telling the whole story of the Sonic next generation game. After our discussions, both Shadow and Silver seemed to remember all that. Funny how they quickly they realized everything that had happened to them.

"Yeah, it's coming to me now…Iblis trigger, Mephiles, Solaris…" Silver spoke.

"And you were the one with the idea that brought Sonic back to life. Yes, I can clearly see it now. It feels like opening a dark cage of memories, deep inside my mind." Shadow realized.

I smiled. "Good. Now you guys remember all what's happened. So, no more fighting each other, right? I think we have enough fights already."

Silver saddened. "But my future now, he and Dr. Eggman are ruining this world. What am I supposed to do now if the one, who's destroying the world, is right by my side?"

Shadow looked at the white hedgehog. "I don't know what has happened to me. But now after you told me all this, I would never team up with Eggman, and I never would've given any thought of joining back with him in the first place. After what he's done to me…" He whispered the last sentence.

"Shadow's got it covered, so don't worry about it Silver. And if you say this world is ruined, we'll try our best to change it." I said.

"I hope so…" Silver spoke with a little worry.

Dylan walked to Silver. "So Silver, would you like to join Team Hedgehog!?" He asked, suddenly chipper. "You can only be a hedgehog to join!"

Silver blankly blinked at the orange hedgehog, who was now jumping up and down with excitement. He slowly made a smile.

"Sure…why not?"


	17. A battle against Eggman

**AN: I hope I did this chapter good ^^' I honestly think I kinda did poorly typing this one, but I'll let you be the judge of that.**

Chapter 17 A Battle Against Eggman

"Ahhhh!" A refreshed blue hedgehog yawned. "I feel recharged!"

It was the day after tomorrow, we were finally on our way again. Traveling through the grass-filled plains once more. Sonic was finally up on his feet again, ready to get his miss from running yesterday. He sneakily fast-walked and passed Shadow in front, hoping to make a run for it. But when Shadow saw his sight ahead, he growled angrily.

"Ha! Buh bye!" Sonic teased. He slowly turned to face Shadow, and started to run backwards. He looked and laughed at the sight of Shadow's expression while he made silly faces.

"Idiot." Shadow continued to growl fiercely. I watched the show in front of me of being second to last in the group. Silver was last. He was using his turquoise telekinetic power to keep him afloat above ground, thinking to himself. I could've thought he'll be down and depressed, but when I turned to see him, he looked happy. Too happy to be exact.

"Don't make me hurt you, 'cause I will." Shadow grouched. Sonic only laughed as his reply. He was continuing teasing the black and red hedgehog.

_Will they ever get along? They act like my brothers…_

"Court? Did you listen to me?" Dylan asked along-side me. My head turned quickly wards him.

"Oh! Sorry Dylan, I wasn't." I said with innocence. I didn't know he was talking this whole time. He lowered his head.

"Ugh, it was very interesting too. Will you listen this time?"

"Yeah, I will." I answered truthfully.

"Ok!" He said cheerfully. "Well I been thinking about our powers lately…"

"Alright? What about them?"

"I was thinking about a combination with our powers! My fire with your force field technique!"

I stared at my friend in confusion. "Huh?"

He laughed. "Well think about it, Court. If we combine our powers together, it will save the trouble from spending time defeating Eggman's mechs. I was thinking that you expand your force field, and made my flames swirl around it; and push the mechs out and they'll be destroyed!"

I hesitated. "But I don't know if I can expand my force field. Plus it might take a lot of energy out of me, and it probably won't last long."

Dylan laughed. "With that attitude, you won't. But I believe in you, Court. You're really strong."

I laughed too. "You're just saying that." I said, as I started to walk away, but then his right arm slashed in front of me, making me stop immediately.

"Court, I'm serious." Dylan looked at me seriously, which you never see often.

I was about to laugh again, but before I could, I did took him seriously. "Dylan…"

"Hey guys, c'mon step it up!" Sonic called for us, further away in the plains. I forgot that we've stopped.

Dylan looked over by Sonic and then at me again. He grabbed my left arm with a little silly smile on his face, seeing that his seriousness is fading, and then started catching up. I gave him a confusing stare as we ran.

_What is up with him? Either he's goofy, or he's serious…But I guess that's Dylan for you._

By the time we reached to the rest of the group, we felt vibrations in the ground. Not only us, but Sonic and Shadow felt it too. And it quickly snapped them out of their fighting state. Silver was the only one who didn't seem to notice. He was continuing flying with his eyes closed, happy in his own little world. But eventually he fell, once he crashed into Shadow.

"Hey! Why did we stop!?" the white hedgehog complained. The ground shook more this time.

"That." Shadow gruffly said. Sonic snikered.

"I know _exactly_ who it is."

Then our answer was right in front of us. A humongous robot was walking towards us, taking its own sweet time. My eyes automatically widened, it was the same robot that Eggman used in the beginning to kidnap my brother.

"_Him_!" I said disgusted, and I rashly ran to the giant mech, fully in anger. But Sonic and Shadow grabbed both of my arms and held a tight grip. But I struggled to break free.

"Let me go! I want to beat the hell out of him!" I growled deep in my throat.

"We're just as angry as you are." Shadow said. "But you have to wait for the right time." Sonic said after.

The giant robot stopped at least a yard from us. And if it did came a little closer, I'm sure my anger would've broken Sonic and Shadow's grips and started to beat the crap out of it. A few seconds later, the glass screen of where the head might be on the robot, opened up. And out came Dr. Eggman, with a smirky smile on his face.

I struggled harder.

"Damn you Eggman!" I yelled out loud. I even started to tear up.

"Whahahaha! Is that how to greet me, the almost new emperor of two worlds!?" Eggman laughed. And from that point, he only focused on me and Dylan.

"You've been such a nuisance, and so have your orange friend. I think it's time for me to destroy you both here and now. We have enough hedgehogs around here as it is, and we don't need anymore…"

I was about to scream out a question, to where my brother is, but Sonic beat me to it.

"Where is Courtney's brother, Eggman? What are you planning to do with him?"

Eggman let out another laugh. "Ha! Like I'm stupid enough to tell you, pesky hedgehog! Let's just say, he's making a powerful use to me!"

"WHERE IS HE!?" I screamed it out, with tears falling off my face. Eggman laughed more and more.

"Enough questions. I only came to destroy you and your friend. Good luck trying to defeat me though, because in this machine there are three Chaos Emeralds! It will give me enough power to finish you both."

_Three Chaos Emeralds!? Then that means if we can take them out of Eggman's robot somehow, then we will have all seven! _

"Doctor, you do know that Sonic, Silver, and I are here also. So, if you even try to hurt them, then we'll just be in your way." Shadow gave a deadly glare at Eggman. But then the egg-shaped doctor gave another smirk, and pressed a button on his control pad in front of him.

Quickly out of the mech, three beams of blue headed right towards Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. Sonic grabbed a hold of me and headed out of the beam's way. Shadow quickly dodged as well. But unfortunately, Silver didn't move fast enough and got caught. Now there was a powerful blue light embracing his form. He couldn't move and is now stuck as standstill.

"Ugh!" He grunted, trying to break free of the embracing energy. But no luck.

"Silver!" Sonic called his name. He held a tighter grip to me, and then raced to help the white hedgehog. I looked behind and saw more blue beams coming our way.

"Sonic!" I warned him, but it was too late. He gotten rammed in the back and had let go of me. We fell and started rolling on the ground. Now Sonic was caught in the same position as Silver.

"Sonic! Court!" Dylan yelled out our names, and ran to help me up first. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. Then Dylan looked at Sonic afterwards.

"Don't worry about me. Just get out of here and run!" The blue hedgehog instructed us. But before we got the chance to reply, we heard another beam shot.

We turned to around and found Shadow caught in the same beam. But surprisingly I saw him pull out the green Chaos Emerald that he always uses, within the beam.

"Are you forgetting who I am!?" Shadow yelled at Eggman. He then shouted 'Chaos Control' and then disappeared from the beam's stronghold. And then, he appeared again in the air by the head of the robot. He was now face to face with Eggman.

He leaned his right fist back, ready to punch Eggman hard in the face. But out of the ordinary, Eggman held up a gun of some sort, and shot Shadow in the chest. He fell back hard onto the ground, with sparks of red energy spurting out of his body.

"Let it be a little lesson to you, Shadow, nobody quits on me. Ha ho ho ho!" Eggman laughed after Shadow crashed back into the ground.

"Shadow!" I cried. As Dylan and I ran out to him, he was out unconscious. More tears continued to run down my face.

"Get out of here, guys!" Sonic told us again, angry this time. But Dylan refused.

"No! Not without you three!" He told him. Then he looked at Eggman with a deadly glare, like Shadow's.

He turned and looked at me serious again. "Court, we need to get all the Chaos Emeralds. Our power alone won't be enough to beat Eggman's machine."

I had second thoughts about the emerald dilemma. "But Dylan, if we collect them together and use them, then they'll disappear afterwards, and we'll have to find them again. And we need them in the future! There's got to be another way!"

"Court, there is no other way!"

"Please! I don't want my brother to suffer any longer! I want him safe!" My crying increased. But I tried so hard to stop.

"Courtney…" I heard my friend say with pity in his voice. But I couldn't see him, since my tears were blurring up my sight.

While we were distracted, a shadow covered us both. When we looked up, we saw a foot of the giant robot ready to crush us. Just like what happened in my nightmare.

"Bye bye!" Eggman made a little wave on top, and then sent the foot down.

"COURT! DYLAN!" Sonic screamed our names.

Before five seconds when the foot came crashing down, Dylan ran right at me to push me and himself out of the way. But I had another idea in mind.

When Dylan was that close to me, I made my violet sphere cover the both of us from the downfall. He immediately stopped shortly after he knew I was doing.

The foot crashed onto my barrier. Yet, it was hard to hold that much weight and damage that inflicted on it. After the foot tried to step on us once on my force field, Eggman tried it multiple times. And it was making it hard for me to hold the barrier.

"Agaahh!" I screamed. Trying my hardest to keep the barrier up till Eggman stopped.

"Courtney, you can do this!" Dylan told beside me. I grunted.

Five minutes afterwards, Eggman gave up on the squashing plan. And I quickly made my sphere vanish. I was worn out of energy; I don't think I can do much of anything after that experience.

Another shadow cast on us.

"Court!" Dylan yelled my name again, and pushed me out of the way liked he planned last time. I trebled across the ground, but after I stopped, I looked up and saw Dylan being carried by one of the robot's hands.

"DYLAN!" I screamed for my friend. Eggman pulled the hand right to his level, and made another smirk while he examined him.

"So, you're the one with the fire powers huh? Well you're no different from that purple cat, Blaze."

Dylan made a smirk as well. "I may be Eggman, I may be…But I doubt she can do this!"

Embers appeared around him, and it had begun spinning around and around till the small embers were big large flames. He was making his huge flaming tornado again.

"What!?" Eggman gasped as the metal hand that had once gripped Dylan, started to melt.

"Ha! That's what happens when you play with fire! My fire of course." Dylan said from inside of the tornado. Eggman growled.

"You! You're no worse than Sonic!"

Dylan made a chuckle. "Well he _is_ my role model."

"Raghhh!" Eggman yelled and started lunge the melted, yet, broken hand at Dylan, but he made him and the tornado move out of its way.

"Ha!" He laughed again and then he made him and his tornado travel back a few meters, planning to charge into the middle of the big mech. He made his fiery tornado shrink into his perfect size and form, and then he sped right into the middle of the metal giant.

"NOOO!" The Doctor yelled.

It was amazing how all that happened so quickly. I couldn't believe it. Maybe, just maybe we wouldn't have to use the Chaos Emeralds if this continued.

Once Dylan gotten through the giant machine, his tornado gained its full form again. But it slowed and shrank till all was disintegrated. And there I saw him, exhausted, and with three colorful Chaos Emeralds in his arms. He smiled at me.

"How did I do?" He sounded exhausted as well. "Was it enough to stop him?"

Before I replied, Eggman's machine came tumbling down with loud crash. It made the ground of the plains shook rapidly. But Eggman managed to escape the fall by delinking the head from the body before the crash. He was now floating on his little aircraft.

"I can't believe my Egg Giant was destroyed because of you two!" Eggman pointed at us. "I would have done soo much more with that thing! But now I'm going to destroy you the hard way!" Eggman said as he pressed a button on his control pad. And then, thousands or maybe millions of mechs, suddenly appeared all around us.

"This will be impossible for you both! Mwahahaha! Hoped you lived a good life!"

_Maybe we do have to use them…_

"Court." Dylan said. "I'm sorry, but we got to use—"

"I know." I cut him short. "But—"

I left my sentence unfinished, because Dylan grabbed a hold of my hand. I looked at him, and he made another smile at me.

"We'll save him, your brother." He finished for me. "I'm your best friend; and I'm not going to leave you till your brother is safe. I promise you that."

It almost sounds like the same thing that Sonic said to me during the earlier days of our journey. And Dylan is promising the exact same thing. And I believe both of their promises. I just hope that we'll find the Chaos Emeralds quicker this time. Every minute makes a bigger risk for my brother, and I'm not going to accept that. At the end of this adventure, I swear I'll make Eggman pay for all the worry and trouble he brought me, Sonic, Dylan and the rest of us through. And I don't need a promise for that.

We heard all the mechs in the distance, getting ready to shoot.

"Close your eyes and concentrate only on the Chaos Emeralds, nothing more." Dylan instructed me. I nodded and I did what he told.

We felt the emeralds. We felt them rising up into the air and moving around us, accelerating. We felt their light, and their awesome power within them. We felt the miracle that was happening before us.

After all the feeling was gone, We slowly opened our eyes.

We were super.


	18. A Miracle and a Disappearance

Chapter 18 A Miracle and a Disappearance

"Courtney…? Dylan…?" Sonic gasped in the distance, amazed of what just occurred. He and Silver were looking up, seeing us high and afloat in the air.

Yes, Dylan and I are super. And the feeling was indescribable; I never felt this feeling before. Maybe it's because that I never felt so rich in power.

I looked at myself and saw that I was glowing a light gold, and my long quills were all pointed upward. Sparkles of white light danced around me, many of them. Dylan on the other hand, was no different. Instead, he was glowing a deep orange gold, and he had fire sparks circling him. He never stopped looking at himself.

"I thought I'll never see the day that I'll be a hedgehog in a fantasy world, and yet, becoming super. Court, how can this be real?" Dylan asked me.

I was in deep thought. I was thinking the same question he was before he even asked. And yet, the answer was still unknown to me.

_This really can't be real…_

"I don't know." I softly said and I looked at myself again, one last time. Then I turned to look at Dylan again.

"We're wasting ring energy. Remember? Being in this form won't last long…" I reminded him. Dylan nodded. "Yeah, I forgot."

As we slowly floated back to the ground, Dylan and I decided to do that one technique that he described earlier, a combination with our powers.

"You really think I can expand my barrier?" I asked nervously. Dylan made another nod.

"Anything is possible when you're super."

As we reached the ground, I felt the power slip away from me one by one. I think our ring energy is about half gone. Dylan felt the power drainage too.

"Ready?" He asked, seeing giant flames appearing on his white gloves. I held my hands out, making my violet sphere appear once more.

"Ready." I answered confident.

I tried Dylan's idea, and it worked exactly as planned. My force field expanded more and more, without the feeling of pain and energy occurring and quickly emptying out of my body.

While I was continuing expanding my barrier, Dylan made giant flames appear almost all over it. And when the barrier and the flames quickly hit the robots, they were immediately destroyed. We were close to finishing the job.

As the last grouping of mechs was finally destroyed, our ring energy was demolished. We felt the seven powerful and colorful Chaos Emeralds escape our bodies and then shot away like shooting stars, hiding themselves once again. We were now back to our regular selves.

"That didn't last long." Dylan sounded disappointed. "That couldn't have been fifty seconds."

I sighed. "Well, time passes, even when it seems impossible."

I looked around, only to see broken parts from the millions of mechs we've destroyed. But we couldn't find Sonic, Shadow, or Silver anywhere.

"Maybe they're in the debris." Dylan told me. And then we rushed to the groupings of broken robot parts, searching for our partners.

"Found Silver!" Dylan yelled out to me, revealing a white hedgehog far away. The blue energy that was once around him was gone, and not only that, he was out unconscious like Shadow.

It took me five more minutes till I found Sonic. There was moving debris not too far away from me. I quickly rushed to it, digged out, and pulled away the parts from the blue hedgehog. He coughed and looked at me weakly.

"Nice job out there." He slowly pulled out his right hand, and made a thumbs up.

"Did we do this to you!?" I started to tear up again, ashamed that we hurt more than just the mechs.

"No, it wasn't your fault." Sonic told me calmly. "The mechs had to be destroyed one way or another."

I let out my hand and Sonic grabbed it, and I pulled him out of the scrap pile. I looked around, trying to see a red and black hedgehog anywhere, but nothing. Maybe Shadow was in the debris like Sonic was.

I started digging again, and Sonic joined in as well. As time passed, we went to dig out every scrap pile there is. We looked everywhere, every single place. I started to panic.

"SHADOW!?" I threw out more and more robot pieces, but like before, nothing.

"He's gone!" Dylan shouted. "…Eggman…he must've taken him!"

When I thought about it, Eggman wasn't around in his aircraft while we were super. I didn't see the sight of him. He might have escaped with Shadow while we were transforming.

"UGH!" I yelled in rage, and then collapsed on the ground. I tried soo much not to cry again, and yet, soo hard not to cuss again.

Sonic slowly walked over to me, and he bent to my level to look at me easier. "Courtney…" Sonic said softly. "We'll get him back…you know Shadow, he's a really tough hedgehog. He might even try to come back himself…"

I digged the fingers of my gloved hands, into the dirt on the ground. I was so furious; I wanted to punch something hard. Eggman took my brother away, and now he's got Shadow. And with him, he might try to force him to go on his side again. This is not good. We had a strong ally, and now, he's been taken away. But he wasn't just an ally, or a partner in that matter…he was a friend.

_Shadow…_

Bursting up tears, Sonic quickly embraced me and I held him tight. He did the pattern with my hair again, to calm me down. When I stopped crying, I saw Dylan behind Sonic, smiling at me.

"No matter how much you cry, you're still tough, even the toughest cry sometimes." He chuckled.

I softly laughed and let go of Sonic. "Did you read my mind?"

"No…your expression says it all." He made a goofy smile. I laughed again.

Before we got the chance to continue our conversation, Sonic's watch started to beep. He looked at the watch and pressed a button.

"Hey Sonic." Tails voice said through the watch. Sonic's face lit up.

"Hey Tails! Long time no hear!" He laughed. "How ya been? Where are you?"

"Not good. Me and Knuckles gotten caught by Eggman, and now we're at his base."

All our eyes widened. "WHAT!?"

"Yes. But apparently we escaped the cell he caged us in, and we successfully got my watch back that Eggman took from me. It was hard to find, let me tell you that."

Sonic looked serious. "Tails! You and Knucks get out of there now! Eggman might be there in the matter of minutes, or maybe an hour! Depending how close we are to his base!" Sonic instructed.

"No problem Sonic." Tails sounded happy-go-lucky. "Knuckles already broken through one of the base's hard-steel walls, we'll be out of there in a sec!"

The blue hedgehog smiled. "Do I need to explain to where we are?"

"Nope." Tails continued with his happy tone. "The watch I have can locate you guys by detecting the location of your watch. We'll be there in no time!"

"Ok, I'm counting on you Tails. Don't get caught again!"

"Roger!" The fox said cheerfully, and then Sonic ended the call and looked at us.

"We'll have to stay here till Tails and Knuckles come. And when they get here, we're going right to Tails' workshop." He explained.

Dylan made a confused stare. "Why Tails' workshop? Are we going to fly to Eggman's base?" I looked confused as well.

"But Sonic, you're forgetting that we need all seven Chaos Emeralds. If we go there now, then we'll be finished. Remember that you told me that Eggman gets stronger after every adventure."

"We're not going there yet." Sonic told us. "First off, we're going to use one of Tails' planes to detect all of the Chaos Emeralds in the air. Once we detect them all, find the location, and collect them, then we'll be heading to the base." Sonic smirked. "Not a bad idea, huh?"

I made a weird stare at him. "Is that possible?"

Sonic smiled. "Yeah, of course!"

I thought about it, and it really might work. Tails makes a lot of amazing technology. And if Tails does have a plane with an emerald detector, it'll save us all that time we were going to do searching for them. Why didn't we do that in the first place!? But then again; we wouldn't have met Shadow again, and we wouldn't have been to all of those awesome places…

Dylan rubbed his chin. "Not a bad idea actually, this might work!"

Sonic made a nod, and then he looked over to me, ready for my answer. "Court? Do you agree?"

I wiped up the remaining tears on my face, and looked at Sonic with a little smile. "Yes."

And it wasn't long till Tails and Knuckles showed.

* * *

"Ugh." Shadow moaned as he slowly woke up from his unconsciousness. His vision was blurry at first, but as he blinked a couple more times, his vision was back to being perfect.

He looked around, seeing he was back at Eggman's base. But when he got up and tried to walk out the little room he was in, he soon realized that his two wrists were handcuffed by chains. One on the right, and one on the left, on the ground.

"ARGAHH!" Shadow grunted, trying his best to break the chains and set himself free. But none of the chains broke.

"Impossible. I'm the strongest being on Earth, why can't I break them!?"

"Because I specially made them for you; Shadow." A voice said.

Shadow looked at the front and saw Eggman, again smirking.

"What do you want!?" Shadow yelled. "What can I possibly do for you!?"

"Wahahaha!" Eggman laughed. He walked to Shadow closely with two of his arms behind his back.

"Remember that Shadow when I released and teamed up with me to conquer the world…? Well, I want him back."

Shadow glared. "_That_ Shadow is long gone, Doctor! In the end I realized that I was made to protect the living things in this world, not conquer it! I made a promise to _her_, Maria, and there's no way in hell I'm going break it!"

Eggman walked more closer to the black and red hedgehog, and Shadow gotten angrier with every step he made. He tried breaking the chains once more, but no effect.

"_If you take one more step_…" Shadow said in a dangerous tone of voice. "_I swear I'll—_"

Shadow stopped. He was introduced by a sharp and terrible pain that was occurring on the edge of his upper chest. Shadow then screamed, as loud as he ever did. He looked down and saw that Eggman was giving him a shot, injecting him with mysterious red liquid.

"The hell!? Doctor!? What are you doing!?" Shadow screamed in anger. But Eggman said nothing and waited till the red liquid was all injected, then he released the needle from his body.

"Let's just say…" Eggman started, chuckling. "Welcome back, Shadow."

"UGH!" Shadow grunted, now trying his best to break through the chains. "YOU ARE SOO DEAD ONCE I'M FREE!"

Eggman only laughed at his reply and left the small room. Meanwhile, Shadow continued to scream and tugged and pulled on the chains, hoping for a sudden miracle. But soon, his strength gotten weaker and weaker, and so was his vision. And yet, every movement he made continued to decrease.

"Maria…" Was Shadow's last word, and he collapsed onto the floor and was welcomed by darkness.


	19. Pink vs Purple

Chapter 19 Pink vs. Purple

Tails' workshop.

It looked smaller in the games, let me tell you that, but it looked big as a regular house. It wasn't easy getting here though; we had to pass an entire zone to get here. Not to mention beating mechs along the travel too. They're starting to get on my last nerve…

"Well here we are! My workshop!" Tails introduced to everyone. Sonic looked confused.

"Um, since when did your workshop get so big?" He asked. I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Tails made a little embarrassed smile. "Yeah, you see, I kinda get more and more addicted to making bigger, yet, unique machines…So, I had to rebuild my workshop so my machines and experiments can all fit."

"You could've asked for my help, buddy. I don't want you getting hurt re-building." Sonic had said with a worried look.

Tails sighed. "Sonic, you do know I'm getting older right? I'm not that little anymore."

Sonic's eyes widened in surprise. "Since when?"

"Since when I turned eleven." Tails proudly admitted. Sonic looked at Tails and tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, you are getting older. But to me, I still think of you as my little pal, Tails." He smiled as he went up and rubbed the top of the small fox's head. Tails frowned, but it slowly rose to a smile.

Afterwards, Tails ran up to his workshop and typed in a password on the small projection screen that was on the side of the building. After he pressed enter, the huge garage door opened and revealed hundreds of colorful planes and machines inside. But the majority of them looked unfinished, and broken.

We walked in, and looked at all the fascinating and unique machines while passing by. I watched Dylan walked over to a plane called the Tornado 2, which looked like it was about to break, if touched. But Dylan surrendered to his temptation and touched the plane. And like in my prediction, it broke. And metal shards and pieces loudly fell and crashed all over the floor. Everyone, especially Tails, all looked at Dylan after the crash.

"My bad." Dylan scratched the back of his quills, embarrassed. "I'll clean it up."

"It's ok, Dylan." Tails said with a smile. "The Tornado 2 needs new materials anyway."

After we looked a little more, Tails called us up to see the plane that we all would be riding in on our last part in our adventure. Once all six of us gotten to the next end of the workshop, the aircraft he planned to show was covered up by a huge cloth. Tails ran and stood by it, he looked like he couldn't wait to show his latest machine.

"Wow, I can already tell it looks bigger than the other Tornadoes you've made." Sonic looked impressed.

"Yeah! And I worked on this one all this year! Indeed it was hard…but it could do more incredible things then the Tornado 1 and the Tornado 2 can do! A lot more! Hedgehogs and echidna, behold the Tornado 3!"

Tails grabbed a hold of the huge cloth and revealed the Tornado 3. All of us gasped in amazement, but I think Dylan gasped the loudest. This plane defiantly looked bigger than the Tornado 1 and 2. All of it looked different except the colors that Tails normally picked for the Tornadoes, blue and orange. I bet this aircraft can hold more bullets and rockets, and the technology…

"Tails, does it have a radar inside to detect the Chaos Emeralds?" I asked, just to make sure.

"Of course it does!" Tails proudly said. "That's its best feature."

Silver examined it. "Would all of us fit in there?"

Tails made a cheerful nod. "Yep. No more than ten people!"

"Wow Tails, you outdid yourself." Knuckles looked impressed, just like Sonic. He punched his big white gloves. "So, when do we start leaving?"

Tails pressed a button on his watch, and automatically the glass part on the top of the cockpit rose up.

"Now!" He spoke excitedly.

I admit; I was pretty excited to ride on a plane mostly the rest of the adventure. We can sit back and relax while Tails guided the plane, and after he stops we can go and collect the newly hidden Chaos Emeralds. But the only part I was worried-sick about was my brother and Shadow. I think Shadow would pretty much escape with no problem at all, but what about my brother? Would Shadow help him escape with him too?

_Yeah…I know he would._

"Hey are you just going to stand there smiling, or are you going too?" A voice said above.

I looked up and saw that everybody was on the plane, and then I saw Sonic, leaning on the edge on the cockpit while holding out his hand to me.

I shook my head at him. "Duh! Of course I'm going!" I reached out and grabbed his hand, and then he pulled me into the cockpit with a smirk on his face.

In the second row, I sat in the middle between Dylan and Knuckles, Silver sat in the third row. And last and not least, Sonic went up and sat with Tails in the passenger seat. He looked behind and made a thumbs-up to us. "Ready guys?"

"Yeah!" Everyone in the rows screamed out. The glass top on the cockpit closed down.

Tails started up the engine as he made the second garage door open. Outside there was a wide space of grass so that the plane couldn't crash into anything while lifting off. We've began moving.

"WHOO!" Dylan screamed, and so with Sonic. Knuckles covered his ears and tried to block out the excited cheers. I gave him a gentle push.

"C'mon Knucks! We're only steps away into getting all the Chaos Emeralds and beating Eggman into a pulp! You have to be excited!"

Knuckles removed his gloves from the sides of his head. "Fine. Whoohoo."

"Ok guys!" Tails told everyone. The plane was moving more and more quickly now. "Here we…"

The plane began rising, lifting itself more and more into the air.

"Go!"

And then everybody started to cheer, even Knuckles managed to do a real cheer. We are now on our way to detect and receive the first Chaos Emerald. Dylan looked at the window on the left, seeing the world below us getting smaller as we flew higher.

"Looks so amazing, does it Court?" He said. I looked below in the window with him.

"Yeah, you're right. It does." I agreed. "I like being on planes, because you can see awesome views like this."

We could see almost every stage we've been in, and yet, I could see ones that we haven't been but seen the games, like Casino Park for example. And good timing too, because the sun was setting in the distance. We saw all of the pretty lights twinkling and sparkle in the zone.

"Beautiful." I softly said to myself as I touched the glass.

"Hey guys!" Sonic sounded chipper, looking back on us four. "Tails told me that his radar found something! We've located the first emerald!"

We all had begun cheering once again. I was impressed of how fast we gotten to one of the emeralds that quickly, I wouldn't be surprised if we found all seven emeralds on one night! I looked at Sonic with my smile widened.

"Where is it located!?"

"See that one city down there with all the dancing lights?" The blue blur pointed to us. "That's Casino Park, which is where the emerald is hidden!"

"Oh…my…God…!!!" Dylan and I said together. Then we started to hype up and jumped up and down on our seats till Knuckles told us to cut it out. This night was getting better and better by the minute!

Tails told us to remain seated while he and Sonic looked for a good place to park the Tornado 3. They both saw a huge space on the parking lot nearby the casino and decided to park there. Once the glass top rose above our heads, we immediately gotten out and looked at the flashy city ahead of us.

"It looks like this place isn't that crowded tonight, for us to have enough parking space for the plane." Sonic told Tails, but he was too busy looking at his watch, trying to find the emerald's destination.

"It won't be far now, all we have to do is enter the park—Umm wait…"

"What's wrong Tails?" Sliver asked, standing close by.

"According to my watch, it's showing me that the emerald is changing course. It's moving around the park."

Sonic rubbed his chin. "Think that somebody might have grabbed it?"

The twin-tailed fox looked at Sonic. "Possibly."

The blue hedgehog smiled. "Ok! I'm up for a little challenge! Court and Dylan, you guys and I will search and stay on the right side of the park. Tails, Knuckles, and Sliver will search the left. Is that alright everybody?"

Everyone either made a nod, or said an 'ok'. Sonic started to dash off, and Dylan grabbed a hold on one of my wrists and ran and met up with Sonic by the entrance of Casino Park. Once we got there, we saw all these giant neon obstacle courses and pinball machines. Everybody around here looked like they were having a blast.

"I remember being here." Sonic said grinning. "Eggman's mechs was all over the place while we were passing through to get to Eggman. Ah, good times."

Dylan laughed. "Yeah, Sonic Heroes…too bad that we can't stay here long, I really wanted to go though this stage."

I looked around in this place, it was really tempting me to go off and go through like Dylan said. But we have a job to do, and we can't just go and randomly goof off.

Sonic looked at both of us and continued on grinning.

"Hey you guys go on ahead, just meet me back at the entrance." He told us. Both of us were shocked.

"But what about the emerald?" I asked Sonic with a confused look on my face. But he just chucked.

"Just go. This is a really fun stage, and it'll be disappointing if you guys don't go at all. Besides, with the watch I have, it'll be a piece of cake finding the Chaos Emerald."

"You sure?" Dylan raised an eyebrow, and Sonic yet to make another thumbs-up.

"Go for it!" The blue hedgehog said with an up-beat attitude.

Excited, Dylan and I dashed off to the very beginning of the stage. But before we'd ever gotten the chance to enter and go into the pinball machine, my happiness and excitement just faded away in an instant. I saw Amy Rose walking around with a white Chaos Emerald in hand.

Dylan touched my shoulder. "Court, what's wrong?" He asked me in a worried tone. I looked at him and turned my head to the direction of Amy. Dylan gasped.

"Oooh, I bet you're not happy huh?" He said. I made a low growl.

"Nope." I answered. And then I started to approach her, but she saw something that took her interest and took off without noticing me.

I looked to where she went to, but there was soo many people in the way. Once it cleared, I saw Amy giving Sonic a death hug. I growled again.

"Oh Sonic! I missed you sooo much!" She squeezed harder.

"Amy!" Sonic choked. "Can't…breathe!"

"Oops! Sorry!" She said and made a girly giggle. After she released him, Sonic's watch started to beep. He looked at it, and then at Amy.

"Amy?" Sonic said confusingly. "You have the emerald?"

The pink hedgehog did another giggle. "Oh! You mean this!" She revealed the sparking white Chaos Emerald behind her. Sonic nodded.

"Yeah! And would you mind giving it to me? Please? We really need it." The blue hedgehog asked, but Amy looked liked she had another idea in mind.

"Yeah I'll give to you…but in one condition!" She smirked. "You'll have to go on a date with me."

Sonic's face fell, and then he quickly shook his head rapidly. "No Amy! Please! We really need it!"

"Unless you agree." Amy closed her eyed and crossed her arms. Meanwhile, Sonic did a face palm.

I can't let him agree to this nonsense, it just gets worse and worse. I normally walked to them while Dylan was tagging along by me.

"Hey Sonic." I approached him with a fake smile on my face, trying my best to hide the anger. Amy looked at me.

"Sonic, who's this?" She asked angrily. Sonic made a nervous laugh, scared of her appearing anger.

"This is Courtney, you've met her before remember? She's my partner." He answered. Amy looked at me, giving me an unsure look.

"Wait? I thought you were human?"

"Yes, but my form changed whenever I stayed here for long." I explained to her, trying to block out the anger. I looked at the white Chaos Emerald in her hands again, and then I asked her—in the most politest way—that Sonic and I could have it. But she instantly refused.

"You can have it if Sonic goes on a date with me." Amy made another snobby smirk, but this time directly at me. That's it!

"What if I made a deal?" I made smirk of my own. "We'll fight. If I win, we'll get the emerald. And if you'll win, you get to go on your date with Sonic, plus keeping the emerald."

"WHAT!?!" Sonic and Dylan freaked. Amy smiled.

"I accept your little deal of yours." She then pulled out her huge hammer behind her, her Piko Piko. And suddenly she jumped and flipped backwards, making us an area for us to fight.

"And I can't wait to win." She winked.

_This is what I been waiting for, a fight between Amy and I. Heh, I got a good feeling this is going to end well._

"Good luck, Court." Sonic whispered to me behind. I made a nod.

Amy started out with a long jump and then she begun to slam her huge hammer down at me, just like the last time I encountered her. But I stood there, waiting for the perfect moment.

Just when the hammer was about to crush me down, I raised my hands and made my violet force field appear around me. Once the Piko Piko crashed onto my barrier, she flung backward from the effect and slid across the floor.

"Ow..." She said faintly. "B-But how?"

I made my barrier vanish, and walked over to her. "Give up?" I taunted her.

"Not a chance!" She growled and raised her hammer and swung it at me by surprise. It had hit me hard in the face, and then I was the one sliding on the floor.

"Give up?" She walked to me with her hammer on her shoulder, and made her girly giggle of hers.

"Heck no!" I screamed and jumped from the ground and quickly made several homing attacks on her.

Dylan looked at the fight in the distance. "Wow, it's like a fight between pink and purple out there."

"Yeah." Sonic said worried. "I hope nobody gets seriously hurt."

"Ah!" Amy yelled as she fell on the ground once more. Before she ever got the chance to get up again, I trapped her inside with my barrier. And then I made the barrier rise from the ground and into the air, ready to fling her back against the wall.

Amy saw what was going to happen, and she quickly shook her head and waved her arms at me.

"Ok! Ok!" Amy yelled from within the force field. "I give up!"

I made a smile, and then dropped the force field down and let her free. She put her hammer away and she also smiled at me, like a nice smile. I made a confusing stare.

"Wow, you're really strong." She said cheerfully as she walked over to me. "I never would have guessed that you were that talented! But anyways…" She pulled out and given me the white Chaos Emerald.

"Here! You earned it fair and square!"

I looked at the gem, and then looked at Amy, who was strangely acting nice. "Umm thanks, but how come you're not mad at me?"

She shrugged. "I just kinda guessed that you would've beaten me. And can I ask you something? Do you like Sonic too?" Her face saddened. My eyes widened in surprise.

"No." I quickly said. "He's like one of my best friends. Wait, was that why you were mad at me from the start?"

"Sort of…yeah." Amy said ashamed. "But are you really telling me the truth about you and Sonic?"

I quickly nodded. "Of course!" Amy laughed.

"Well I'm really sorry about what has happened between us before, and now. I hope that we can start anew and become friends." She handed out her right hand to me. "Friends?"

I feel like I was about to vomit. I dislike Amy, but I prefer we can get along other than getting mad at each other every time we met. I shook her hand.

"Great!" Then she let go and started skip out and exit through the entrance.

"See ya later Sonic!" She waved and blew a kiss to the blue hedgehog, and she was gone.

"Court! Court!" Sonic and Dylan rushed up to me, happy to see I won the bet. I gave the emerald to Sonic with a puzzled look on my face. Sonic looked at me worried.

"What's wrong?" He asked. I stared into space.

"I don't know, but some weird way I became friends with Amy…ew." I scrunched my eyes disgusted. Dylan laughed. "Well, that's better than not being friends."

Sonic smiled. "Well I happy that she didn't do any worse. But thanks for getting the emerald Court. I owe you one."

I made a nervous laugh. "Um you're welcome, and really you don't."

Just about when Sonic refused to the last part of my sentence, Tails, Knuckles, and Silver came in from the entrance. All of them look dirtied up and injured.

"Guys? What happened!?" Sonic asked them in shock. I stared at Knuckles who looked like he was about to fall. I then rushed and grabbed a hold of him.

"It was Shadow…" Knuckles said, heavily breathing in air. "He's not himself."


	20. Shadow’s Change

Chapter 20 Shadow's Change

"It doesn't make any sense…" I told Knuckles, when we were back by the Tornado 3. Sonic handed me a first-aid kit from inside of the plane, and I immediately opened it and grabbed tons of wipes and bandages. Then I started dabbing the blood off the red echidna's left arm with one of the wipes.

"It does. I knew that Shadow would betray us." Knuckles growled. But I refuse to accept that comment, I slammed the bloody wipe on the ground.

"No! Shadow would never betray us!" I told him. "He knows better than to just randomly injure you three, he has a promise to keep!"

"Promise? You made a promise with him?" Knuckles asked confusingly. I shook my head.

"No! The girl that he loved fifty years ago made him a promise…a promise that he'll help the humans and creatures in this world. To save them…" I explained. Everybody but Dylan seemed surprised about this.

Knuckles looked at me shocked. "Shadow can love?"

I lowered my eyelids, and then Silver sighed in the distance.

"I knew this would happen; now this world is going to be conquered by Eggman and Shadow. A brilliant scientist and the strongest being on Earth, working together. There's no way we can stop them both. The future is ruined."

Sonic made a gasp. "No, that won't happen! This has happened in the past, but it didn't stop us before! C'mon guys, lets head back and find the rest of the emeralds!"

Tails held on to his injured arm and walked over to Sonic sadly. "Sonic, Shadow has one of the emeralds. That was the reason why he injured us in the first place."

"What!?" The blue hedgehog uproared in surprise. "Why didn't you say that before!? Tell me, what happened?!" Sonic demanded.

Tails fell down on the blacktop with complete pain. Good thing I was done with Knuckles; I ran up and helped Tails up, and then started dabbing up his injuries. Sonic came and kneeled close to help Tails also, and to listen to his story.

Tails took a deep breath before he began. "When we started to head for Casino Park after you left, my watch began beeping. It was telling me that there was another Chaos Emerald located, but in the nearby forest by the park. When Knuckles, Silver, and I got to the destination, we found a green Chaos Emerald sitting alone on a patch of grass. As I went up to retrieve it, Shadow appeared behind it with bright glowing scarlet eyes, and made the most evil look on his face. He immediately grabbed it and started to beat all of us up, finishing with a Chaos Blast."

"Then what happened?" I asked nervously, while bandaging him. Tails looked at me with a serious, and yet, sad look.

"Before he left he said, 'Once I gather all the Chaos Emeralds, bring the sister to me at the top of the bridge at Radical Highway. I will notify you when I'm ready.'"

I wasn't surprised. Eggman must've done something to make Shadow into the opposite creature that he once was, for him to hurt everyone and wanted me in his grasp again. I knew something like this would happen, and I plan to confront him and use all of my strength to turn him back to the normal Shadow. No matter what it takes.

_It won't be easy…_

"No way!" Sonic yelled out once more. "Shadow would have to go through me if he wants Court! I won't let him do this!"

Dylan refused as well, and said almost the exact thing Sonic had said. Soon everyone started to argue about the subject. I grew tired of it, and stood up.

"Stop!" I screamed, and everyone just stopped at an instant and looked at me.

"I'll go now to find Shadow before he finds the rest of the Chaos Emeralds. And I'll change him before Eggman continues on with his plans. I can do this myself."

And yet again, everyone refused. Dylan walked to me and placed both hands on each of my shoulders, and made me look at him.

"Court, you know how strong and powerful Shadow is. With him in this state, he'll kill you! Let me, Sonic, and the others do this."

I shook my head. "No! I can do this on my own! I'm not weak!"

"I know that! But I won't let my best friend get killed!"

"I dealt with Shadow before…" I told him calmly this time. "And made his heart soften. If I just talk to him and bring him back to his senses, he'll be the way he was before."

Dylan was about to say something, that is, till he got interrupted by Sonic.

"It's true." He told him and everyone. And told about the time when Shadow kidnapped me for the first time and how I stopped Shadow from killing him. Sonic looked at me with his light peridot eyes. He looked like he couldn't decide if he wants me to go alone or not.

Dylan still held a grip on my shoulders, thinking that I might just run away if he did let go. I looked at my best friend confident, knowing that I could help with Shadow without coming back with injuries. But that just made his worrying worse. I then thought about our promise…Sonic's promise.

"Don't worry." I told Dylan. "A great friend of ours once told me, 'If you don't worry; things will get better.'"

Sonic face lit up, knowing that he was the one who said that. I winked at him, and he did the same.

Dylan blinked a few times, remembering the blue blur's promise as well, and then scrunched his eyes. He let go of me.

"Court, we're counting on you." Sonic said seriously, now agreeing for me to leave. And the others wished for my luck as well.

"Be careful." Dylan told me when a smile rose on his face while he given me a hug. I made a smile back and squeezed our hug. But before I said goodbye and started to head off, Tails stopped me by giving me a watch like he had, to detect the Chaos Emeralds.

"I'll come in handy, since Shadow is now holding one of the Chaos Emeralds. And other than that; it will help us of where you're located and it'll tell you where we're at." Tails explained cheerful again. I made another smile and told him thanks.

This time, for real, I started to head off. I strapped the watch on my left wrist while I was continue to walk pass the blacktop, and into entrance of another forest. I heard everyone yell their last goodbyes after I passed through the first few trees.

I wasn't worried; I knew that I wasn't going to be killed. I'll do whatever to make Shadow turn back and to get my brother back. Eggman can do whatever he wants to stop me, because I'll defeat and pass every single enemy or obstacle he makes. I'll keep running…just like Sonic.

* * *

I spent almost the whole night in the forest, looking for Shadow. But my watch didn't beep at all while I searched every single place in the forest. He might of went to another destination to look for another Chaos Emerald, who knows? When I looked at my watch again, I made a sigh when I looked at the time; 4:36. And then I yawned.

"Ugh, I'm tired but I want to stay up." I told myself. But surrendering to my temptation, I laid against a huge tree, softly closed my eyes, and then fell asleep.

When it was close to morning, I was awakened by a beeping sound on my watch. My eyes flickered open and looked at the device, hoping that Shadow had came back here.

But no, it was call. I pressed a red button and said a tired 'hello?'

"Morning Court!" Dylan's voice spoke happy, and yet, goofy through the watch. I moaned tiredly.

"Morning Dylan." I yawned. Dylan made a chuckle. "Any luck finding Shadow?"

"No." I told him sadly. "He must've gone to another location, or that he might have gone deeper in the forest. I hope I'll find him soon."

"Please be careful." Dylan reminded me, his happiness drowned. I made a smile and softly laughed.

"I will Dylan, trust me on this. You be careful too, finding the rest of the Chaos Emeralds."

His happiness along with his laughter returned. "I will!" And then the call ended.

I stood up slowly and stretched. I was still tired, but I have nearly enough energy to go and look for Shadow again. I started to run off till I found an easier way to travel through the forest.

As fast I can possibly run, I made my violet barrier appear around me and I was rolling across the forest floor. I floated in one place, and I controlled where my barrier would go. But I had to stop at times for me to gain my speed again.

My watched beeped.

I stopped and made my violet sphere disappear, and quickly turned to my watch. There was Chaos Emerald nearby.

I instantly dashed towards the location, with hope as my energy. But as I got as close to the destination, something scrapped my ankle.

I stopped again, and looked down. There was a rose bush of where I was standing at.

Not bothering of looking at my ankle, I continued to walk forward, seeing a deep red rose garden in the middle of the forest. The beeping went faster.

Being careful not to be scrapped again, I slowly took my time passing by with each rose bush. When I finally got to my location, I looked below and saw a glowing red emerald in the bush, disguising as a rose.

I bent down and picked it up, while my hope fell. I found a Chaos Emerald, but still no sign of Shadow.

"I believe _that_ belongs to me." a dark voice whispered behind me.

I flinched and quickly turned around, and yet tending to scrape myself with the thorns once more.

"Shadow." I spoke his name in a loud whisper. He looked at me with a smirk with his eyes glowing a bright scarlet.

"A little too early for you to come see me, I guess you want your death to be sooner." He evilly chuckled. I stared at him seriously.

"Shadow this isn't the real you!" I started out, hoping in all my heart that he'll return to his old self. "Eggman has done something to you! Please you have to remember!"

Instead of seeing of what I expected, Shadow shoved me hard onto the rose bushes, ignoring what I just said. Parts of my body were scrapped, and my clothes were torn as well. I was bleeding on each of my scrapes.

Shadow walked by me and grabbed the top of my shirt, as well of the red Chaos Emerald I gripped in my right hand. He looked at me with death in his glowing eyes. I started to tear up.

"Shadow! Please! Do you remember the prom—"

I was interrupted while Shadow threw me to the closest tree nearby; my back was slammed against the wood and pain soon all rushed over.

"You disgusting human…" Shadow had said while walking to me again. I wanted to run away, but the pain was unbearable.

"How dare you oppose me?!" Shadow growled deep in his throat. "This is who I am!"

As he gotten close to me, he raised his right hand preparing to do a Chaos Spear. I sat there and watched sadly. This couldn't be happening…

He made a bright energy beam from the air and he made it head towards me. But by using the last bit of energy that I had, I managed to protect myself with my force field.

"Shadow…" I whispered weakly while my barrier disappeared. He growled again.

He rushed closer to me, preparing to grab me again, that is, till I saw flash of fire separate the two of us. And that somebody appeared in front, protecting me.

_Dylan!_

"Leave. Now." Dylan growled at Shadow. But the black hedgehog just laughed evilly.

"You don't honestly believe that you can defeat me." Shadow made another smirk. But Dylan replied by shooting a flame at him. The hedgehog dodged it perfectly.

"That was just practice." Dylan spoke as he used two of his hands, preparing to make bigger flame. But in the meantime Shadow jumped up, ready to do a homing attack.

Once Shadow gotten that close to hitting the orange hedgehog, he immediately jumped backwards and shot two fireballs out of his hands and hit Shadow in the back.

"You shouldn't play with fire." Dylan landed on the ground and returned a smirk at Shadow. But Shadow glared at him and growled deeply, his anger triggered fully now.

In a flash of light, he was gone. But he returned by teleporting behind Dylan and kicked him in the head. Dylan grunted and fell down to the bushes, but he ignored the cuts he made and continued to attack Shadow.

But it was getting hard for him though, Shadow was teleporting everywhere. He always got kicked, punched, and shoved by surprise. And every time he fell, more injuries were made. But he didn't care otherwise.

Just like Shadow, he had enough. And he forced all of his power into his hands and spreaded fire all around the battlefield, making the whole rose garden filled with fire. And with it being like this, nobody can fight now, except for Dylan.

Shadow stood in a non-fiery place for a sec, making at death glare at Dylan with his glowing ruby eyes. Dylan growled again.

"You can't protect her forever, eventually she'll be in my grasp." The evil Shadow spoke, and then he raised the red Chaos Emerald above him and yelled 'Chaos Control!' and then he was gone.

The fire was starting to spread, passing through the field and into the forest. I started to cough; smoke covered every inch in the air.

I saw Dylan running at me through the flames, looking as injured as I was. But that didn't stop him from rescuing me.

_I feel so worthless!_

I watched him approach and grabbed a hold of me while we escaped the fiery plain. None of us said a word till we gotten back safely on the Tornado 3.

* * *

We were back on the plane, flying for about two hours now. Sonic was in the back in the second row with us, helping by tending to our injuries. Sonic looked at me while he was wrapping the last bandage on me. He looked sad and serious.

"I can't believe he done all this to you, you have more cuts than anyone here." He spoke. "Shadow doesn't know what he's going be dealing with next."

I didn't reply, I was busy thinking of what happened earlier today. I didn't accomplish anything. I didn't even try my best.

_What's wrong with me…?_

Sonic gave me hug. "Don't think about it, alright? Remember what I told you, leave the worrying to me."

He unleashed me while giving me one of his smiles, and I couldn't help but smile back at him.

He went up and sat by Tails in the passenger seat, leaving Dylan and I to the row ourselves.

I looked at Dylan, seeing him worn out and covered in bandages like I was. He turned to look at me too.

"Thanks for saving me." I told him.

"It's cool." He said while he gave me rising smile. "I just knew something was bound to happen, so I followed you the whole time."

I widened my eyes in shock. "Stalker!" I pointed at him, which made him laugh.

"Sure, say whatever you want! But I saved you!" He pointed back at me, I laughed along as well.

"Yes, I know…" I grinned as I laid my head on seat, and so did him.

I sighed. "I wonder how much longer it will take to bring back the old Shadow and to rescue my brother. If Eggman had not appeared then we would've succeeded the rescue days from now."

Dylan turned to look at me again. "Just be patient. We'll get to your brother in no time at all, and the normal Shadow will be back again. But this time…" Dylan paused and I waited impatiently for him to say the rest.

"I'm sticking with ya!" He made a goofy face. And I burst up in laughter.

Dylan. Whenever you look at him, you can never stop smiling, no matter what kind of mood you're in.

I'm glad that's he's my best friend.


	21. The Ultimate Struggle

Chapter 21 The Ultimate Struggle

Two days have passed, and no sign of any Chaos Emeralds…

We spent forty eight hours on the plane, searching and searching everywhere for the six remaining gems. But the radar didn't show any detecting. Tails made a sigh, and turned his head for a moment to look at Sonic, then at us.

"I'm going to head us down guys." He sounded disappointed. "We haven't made much progress since we left. And I doubt we'll find anything if we continue searching."

Sonic sat up straight on his seat, he looked like that he's about to refuse. But then he had second thoughts, and then slumped back down in his seat again.

I then turned to the white Chaos Emerald that I held in my hands, looking at its brilliance and luminous glow. It was the only emerald we've retrieved.

Where were the rest of the emeralds? Did Shadow manage to collect all of them before we did? If so, then that might be the case why we haven't detected anything. I slowly closed my eyes, thinking of what would happen next.

_Shadow will be calling me soon…_

As I opened my eyes again, I turned and looked at Dylan sitting beside me, seeing him touching the bandages on his arms. He looked serious again.

"My arms are sore." Dylan said softly and made a slight chuckle. "But that's what happens if you get rammed into rose bushes."

I made a little chuckle myself and felt my arms as well. Sore, should've known.

"I wonder how long till these cuts get healed?" Dylan questioned.

"They'll heal quicker if you had rings. That's what helped you when you got shot by that mech in the earlier days of the adventure." I answered and explained. Dylan yet to make another short laugh.

"Yeah I remember that! Fun times. Which reminds me, how long have we've been here?" He questioned again.

It took me awhile to find out. "Umm, I say a whole month."

Dylan made a facepalm. "Great. I wonder how my parents are doing with me gone for this long. Probably having the worst time of their lives."

"Same here." I answered sadly. "And it wouldn't just be my parents though; my whole family would be a mess."

"Same here." Dylan copied my answer from before. I gave a sigh, thinking of what my family is doing without my brother and I. But other than that, I thought of new strategies of what I'll do when I encounter Shadow again. And how I can get to Shadow without Sonic, Dylan, or the rest of the team stopping me.

_I'm not weak; I don't want anybody protecting me anymore. I can do this alone._

We looked out through one of the plane's windows, and saw the ground and trees below us enlarge. It was continuing to do so when Tails guided the Tornado 3 down to complete stop on the wide space plain.

Still looking through the window, I saw some lights floating around the plains, blinking. And as soon Tails opened up the cockpit, I saw that this place was filled with many fireflies. I haven't seen this many in one place before.

It was so beautiful.

I quickly jumped out of the plane and gazed at the fireflies, floating and flying everywhere.

I saw Dylan run pass me, trying to catch one of the lighting bugs. And eventually he did, and he went up to me and placed the bug on my hedgehog nose. It stood there in confusion, flickering its light.

Looking at it cross-eyed, I touched my nose with my right index finger, and the firefly crawled up on it and then flew away.

Dylan walked towards and stood by me, both of us watching the fireflies in amazement.

"Makes me think of that one song I heard once." I told Dylan. He looked at me.

"Fireflies by Owl City?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "How did you know?"

Dylan made a short laugh. "I tend to look up, and come across songs on the internet. I think I might have it on my iPod."

My smile rose. "Really!?"

"Think so." He smiled too, as he checked his pockets on his shorts. After five seconds, he pulled out his dark grey iPod. He turned it on and searched for the song on his long list of music. He gave me the right speaker from his headphones.

"Yay!" I yelled childishly, as I grabbed it and placed it in one of my hedgehog ears. Dylan had done the same.

We listened to the song, which is when we gotten halfway through, we started singing to it. Strangely for some reason, more fireflies showed as we continued on singing.

As soon as the song was over, Dylan searched on his iPod some more and immediately put on Pokerface. And it made me laugh so hard when he started dancing and singing to it, and when I tried to dance to it. But it was hard dancing with headphones on our ears; they immediately fell out when Dylan started dancing too wildly.

"Haha…Ok, I think I had my fill for tonight!" Dylan laughed as he wrapped his headphones around his iPod and placed it back in his pocket. "Hey, what happened to the fireflies?" He said shocked, seeing less lighting bugs flying in the air.

"I think you scared them off." I made a giggle. Dylan looked at me funny, which made me laugh again.

We leaned against the Tornado 3 as we continue to watch the remaining fireflies in the air. I looked at Dylan once again, thinking or probably daydreaming. I began to think too.

_I wonder if our friendship will last… I mean, after high school…will we still keep in touch? Will we ever hang out again?_

"Hey Dylan." I spoke seriously. "Hmm?" He turned his head and looked at me.

"Will we…be fr—"

I got interrupted by a beeping noise from Sonic's watch. The blue hedgehog walked over to us, while the rest of the group followed him. He pressed a button, which lead to Shadow's voice speaking.

_He's calling for me…_

"Good evening Sonic, I have now collected six of the Chaos Emeralds. I believe that you hold the last one that I need." Shadow spoke in a dangerous tone of voice. Sonic growled.

"Forget it, Shadow! If you want this emerald so bad then come here and get it yourself!" Sonic angrily yelled.

"I was thinking that you will make the sister bring it to me. It'll be too far for me to travel to your location from Radical Highway. Besides, I told your fox friend that I'll be calling you whenever I'm ready for her. Now is the time."

Sonic growled fiercely. "Stop calling her 'sister'! It's Courtney! And what if I refuse to this!?"

"Then all these innocent people that I'm holding hostage will be destroyed by the bombs that I placed on each side of this bridge."

Sonic looked at his watch, his face filled with both anger and shock.

"She's got thirty minutes, farewell." Shadow spoke last. The call ended.

I looked at Sonic, looking down on at the ground as if he already was defeated. Both of his hands turned to death grips, and his growls were heard again.

Everybody on the team looked at the blue hedgehog, surprised to see him _this_ angry. He didn't stop looking at the ground.

I walked up to him, seeing him not making a budge or turn to look at me. I was about to say something, till he mumbled: "I won't let you die…"

"I won't die." I said softly to him. "Please, give me another chance. I figured out a way to change him…"

Sonic's eyelids scrunched, a sign that he didn't want to hear anymore. But it just made my anger rage inside of me. I'm not going to stand here wasting time while Shadow is causing havoc to the people around Radical Highway. I looked at Sonic again and breathed a heavy sigh. I went around him and started to run off to where I was supposed to be heading. But I felt a wind race me and stop me before I gotten any further.

Sonic looked at me with his peridot eyes while he stood in my way, but instead of his eyes filling with anger, it was filled with calmness.

"We're going with you." His frown slowly rose to a smirk. I looked at him puzzled.

"What!? Then Shadow would just go ahead and kill everyone if he sees all of you!"

He made a wink. "What if he _doesn't_ see us?"

I blinked a few times in confusion while Dylan and the rest of the team went up by us.

"Not a bad idea!" Dylan told Sonic and then focused on me. "I did say I was sticking with you!"

I scrunched my eyes like what Sonic had done earlier. I can't accept this. "But what if Shadow finds out? I don't want you guys getting hurt!"

"Believe me Court…we won't." Sonic replied trustworthy. And because time was passing by each minute, I had no other choice but to believe him.

* * *

Soon after I and everyone agreed with Sonic, we all hopped in the Tornado 3 again and took off, quickly heading me to my destiny. Once we're close to Radical Highway, Tails landed close as he could to the zone. When the plane stopped, I immediately jumped out and ran as fast I could to the bridge. I only have five minutes left.

I heard Sonic's yell, back to where the plane was, telling me good luck and that the team will be down there soon. I would have made a yell back, but I was already more further away, and yet, I was getting close to the bridge.

Once I gotten there and passed through the entrance to the bridge, I passed hundreds of trapped cars on my way to the center, seeing the scared and freighted faces of adults, teens, and children inside of the vehicles. Each face I saw, my anger grew.

_This is the night that you'll be back, Shadow._

As I finally gotten to the center of the bridge, I looked around to see a mischievous black and red hedgehog anywhere. But I saw nothing but the clear highway, and heard the faint conversations of the freighted people inside their cars.

I almost cried out the dark hedgehog's name. That is, till the last minute, I heard him.

"Finally you came." A dark familiar voice said above me. I quickly looked up and saw that he, Shadow, was on top on one of the crimson pillars on the bridge. He came down by grinding from one of the steel ropes that connected to the pillar, and then he jumped and landed almost where I was standing. Since he was that close, I felt his breaths, and I was centimeters away from his huge eyes, which the irises didn't change since the last time I saw him. They were still glowing a bright scarlet.

I saw him examine me; he looked directly at all of my bandages, wrapped everywhere around my arms and legs, then he looked directly at my green eyes, smirking while he did.

"It'll be a shame to kill you." His smirk widened to a grin. "You are one of the most beautiful humans I met. But with you in the way of things, it will ruin my plans of taking over this world."

I was about argue about the 'beautiful human' thing, but soon after I heard the last part of the sentence, I blankly stared at him confused.

"But I thought you and Eggman we're planning to take over? Why is he out of the picture?" I spoke confusingly.

The hedgehog chuckled darkly again. "Because he's human, and who would want to work with a foolish obese doctor by their side. Not me. Besides, my own plans are far much greater than the Doctor had planed out. But why am I telling you this? You'll be gone before I will gain control." He held out his hand to me.

"Give me the last Chaos Emerald…" He told me with glowing red eyes, filling with lust. "And I'll quickly end your life. Don't worry; I'll finish you quickly without having to feel pain."

I stared at him, and gave him my answer by slowly shaking my head left and right with no emotion on my face.

Shadow made a short grunt. "Wrong decision." He said and he sprang forward to attack me. But a blue streak appeared and pushed and stuck him on the side of the same red pillar that he was once on.

"You…" Shadow growled at the sight of his rival. Sonic growled back and turned to look at me.

"Run Courtney!" He yelled, as he tried to hold Shadow down.

I did what Sonic instructed. Everything was going according to his plan, until we heard 'Chaos Control!'

Before I even had the chance to stop, Shadow was there in my path. He roughly grabbed me and put me into a tight headlock. Sonic came and rushed to help, but every step he took, the tighter the headlock was. I began to choke. Shadow laughed.

"One more step hedgehog, and she and the people on this bridge will all suffer." Shadow taunted him.

Sonic immediately stopped, and had made a nasty glare at Shadow. But I can tell that he was trying to think of a quick solution to help save me.

He didn't have to.

I closed my eyes, concentrating, and made my purple force field appear. And it pushed Shadow away a couple of feet, which means I had a little but enough time to escape. Sonic rushed to Shadow and tried to prevent him from getting up and taking away his Chaos Emerald. The blue hedgehog quickly snatched the green emerald out of his hand, and threw it far across the open highway that Shadow would have no reach.

"Shadow! Come to your senses!" Sonic screamed at him. Trying his best to turn the ultimate lifeform back to the way he was. But Shadow's reply was roughly releasing from Sonic's grip from his right wrist, and rashly pressed a button from one of the two watches that he wore on his left wrist.

Four separate explosions were now heard, from each side of the bridge.

Out of surprise, Shadow pulled out another emerald from behind his back and made a little wave at Sonic.

"Have a nice swim." He told him. And again he yelled 'Chaos Control!' and disappeared.

The road begun to crumble as I saw Sonic run to grab the emerald that he threw before. As he gotten as close as he did to it, the highway collapsed and I heard Sonic fall and scream till he reached and splashed down into the ocean, along with the debris trapped cars that were once on the highway.

"SONIC!" I screamed as I returned to the bridge. Doing anything I could to save him, I dived down by the edge of the broken road and prepared to enter the wavy cold waters, gripping my white Chaos Emerald along the way. But something managed to grab me before I had the chance to go in. The next thing I knew, I was on the right side of the bridge on a steel red pillar. It was the only one that survived standing from the explosions of the bombs.

Knowing the only one who could have done this, I turned to face the evil Shadow behind me. But before I had the chance to speak, I was grabbed by the neck, and Shadow walked by the edge of the pillar, preparing to drop me down into the water, away from Sonic's direction.

"S-Shad…ow." I coughed as the dark hedgehog's grip tightened. He let out another evil chuckle.

"You can't protect yourself now, either way, you'll just fall to your death. Sonic's waiting for you on the other side. Tell him I said hi."

I was so mad at Shadow that I just want to do the best I can to prevent myself from falling and tear him to shreds. But this isn't the true Shadow; his true self is locked within his heart by the evil Eggman had injected in him. I know a way to break the lock in his heart…

I felt Shadow's grip on me beginning to loosen, but I then grabbed his right arm tightly, so that he wouldn't let me go.

"Listen to me!" I tried my best not to cough. Looking at Shadow, he looked like he didn't care to listen. He shook his arm rapidly, wanting me to let go of his arm.

"Remember Maria's promise!?" I yelled as loud as I could in this state. The shaking stopped.

Shadow was now listening, and I saw the glow in his eyes begin to flicker. "What…?"

"Maria! The girl on the Ark that you loved! She promised you to protect the living beings on this planet! She wanted you to help them! You were meant to be good!"

Shadow's arm shook again, but not in the same way as last time. This time, he was trembling. He looked at me with wide eyes after I spoke. And I saw that his eyes continue to flicker.

"Courtney?" He spoke my name with a smile while he was still trembling; I made a smile in return.

"Welcome back." I told him with tears forming in my eyes, and he slowly pulled me back.

But before I had the chance to step onto the pillar again, I heard Shadow shout a painful cry and he instantly let go of me on the spot. Faster and faster till I met the ocean, preparing for a deep dive and struggles that await me till I reach the sea's surface. But twice on that same night, I was grabbed, and was teleported to another location.

I was there back to where I once was, by the edge of the broken bridge. I glanced and saw Shadow stand beside me, as then he grabbed and embraced me to a long tight hug.

"Thank you!" Shadow spoke as he whimpered. I felt many of his tears fall onto both of my shoulders. I had begun to cry too.

"No problem. I'm soo happy that you're back!" My tears fell one my one. I looked from the back of Shadow, and saw that people that were once in the cars were out safely by the edge, like what Sonic had planned. I saw Dylan and Tails in front of the mob of people, and once they saw us, they approached in a millisecond.

"Shadow! You're back!?" Dylan and Tails shouted together. Shadow then released me from the embrace and looked at the orange hedgehog and fox.

He made a nod and smiled.

Both of them cheered, and then I saw Dylan rush up to me and gave me a hug.

"You did awesome back there Court! I couldn't stop watching!" Dylan told me excitedly. I gave him a confused stare.

"Really? There were points were I could've not make it." I told him. His smile dropped down a bit.

"Yeah, it made me scared on some points, like when Shadow held on to you by the edge of the pillar. But I keep telling myself that you'll make it. It was the only way of not breaking Sonic's promise!"

I widened my eyes in shock by hearing the blue hedgehog's name. Sonic was still in the ocean!

I immediately rushed passed Shadow, and gotten as close to the broken edge of the bridge I can get. But before I yelled Sonic's name, Shadow grabbed me and pulled me back.

"Courtney! What are you doing!?" Shadow asked gruffly. I didn't turn to look at him and anyone else. I continued to stare into the ocean.

"Sonic's in the ocean! He fell in whenever the bombs destroyed the highway!"

After I explained, everybody started yelling out Sonic's name. But it didn't last long, because we then heard a familiar voice behind us saying, 'You rang?'.

All of us instantly turned heads, and saw Sonic with Knuckles and Silver. He tossed the green Chaos Emerald that he once threw back on the highway playfully with his right hand. He made a smile.

"Sonic!" I grinned happily. "How did you—"

"By using Shadow's technique, Chaos Control. Good thing I grabbed it before I fell down into the water!" He winked.

As happy as we all were, we all grouped hugged. In the end, nobody was harmed and Shadow was back to his own self again.

The team was restored.


	22. Beginning to the End

Chapter 22 Beginning to the End

"So…are we ready to face Eggman?" I asked both happy and sadly. Shadow used Chaos Control to teleport us to the other side of the bridge, we were now walking together to get to Eggman's base. Shadow looked at me after my question.

"No, we need a plan. I don't think that all seven of us would handle what Eggman is planning." He spoke in his mysterious tone of voice as he now looked at everyone. Sonic looked at the black hedgehog confused.

"What do you mean by that?" Sonic questioned. "We had beaten Eggman millions of times without more help, besides, we have all the Chaos Emeralds, correct?"

Shadow looked over from me to Sonic. "Yes, but us in super form, we might not be a match of Eggman's weapon." He said seriously. My eyes widened, as we continued on walking.

"Eggman's weapon…? You don't mean…" I slowed to a stop, as soon everyone noticed, they had done the same. Shadow came up to me with a sorrowful look on his face. Then he made a nod.

I closed my eyes for the time being, trying to calm down. But I can't help but feel tears forming on my eyes. There was something that I needed to know…

"Shadow…what's inside of my brother?" I asked him, trying not to get too emotional. "Do you know?"

Shadow looked at me with a straight face, and then his eyes lowered. I can tell that he didn't want to tell me.

"It's not really what's inside him…" Shadow began. "What Eggman meant was that he has a great power. I wasn't told of what power he has…but I do know that it's strong enough for Eggman to plan on ruling our two worlds."

_A great power? Is my brother's power greater than my own?_ _Greater then everyone elses?_

As just as I was about to reply, another beep was heard, but it was different kind of beep. It couldn't be from Tails' watch. Shadow looked down to try to find the source of the noise; he found out that it was the other watch that Eggman had given him.

"Quiet everyone!" Shadow snapped. And then he lifted his left arm, and pressed the button on the black watch, which lead to Eggman's voice.

"Shadow, have you completed your mission? Have you disposed of the girl?" Eggman asked through the watch.

"No." Shadow said darkly, pretending to be his false self. "I was thinking that bringing her to your base. Don't you want to see her suffer for the last time?" It took awhile for Eggman to answer.

"Hmmmm…not a bad idea Shadow, not bad at all! Hahaha! Oh! Was Sonic trying to protect her? Was he there at all?"

Shadow continued on with the fake dark laughter. "Oh yes he was. But I won't worry about him Doctor…when I destroyed the bridge; he fell down with the hostages and the debris, right down into the ocean. He couldn't possibly survive that, after all, his weakness _is_ water."

Eggman upbursted in excitement. "Really Shadow? Did Sonic die!?"

"Would I lie to you, Master?"

"I believe you! Haha hohoho! Finally that blue hedgehog has died! If only I was there to see it! Hahaha finally…! Now report to my base immediately! Hohoho! This is going to be the best night I ever had!"

Shadow then pressed the same button again, and ended the call. Sonic made a laugh, knowing that he will be the one who will have the best night.

"So, more allies? Is that the plan Shadow?" Sonic smirked as he pointed at Shadow with his right index finger. Shadow made another nod.

"Yes, you five should go back and get the others. While you do that, Courtney and I are going to head down to Eggman's base." He explained.

I saw Sonic's smirk fade, and I saw Dylan's grin fade as well. They both looked at me with the same emotionless face.

I saw Dylan rush to me first, to give me hug before I left. When he released me, he looked at me serious with his brown eyes.

"Be safe, Court. I'm counting on you." My best friend told me. I blinked at him blankly for a few seconds, and then I made a small smile. "Don't worry, I will."

"Who said I was worried?" He made a wink, his serious side faded. As soon as he walked back to the rest of the group, Sonic walked over to me, and he gave me a hug as well.

"Be careful." He whispered to me as he gripped his hug tighter, that it almost made me lose my breath. When he let go, he gave me a unique smile that I never seen from him. It was a mixture between a sorrowful smile, and a heartwarming smile.

After the last conversation, and our goodbyes; Sonic, Dylan, and the rest journeyed back. I continued to watch all five of them run till they were no longer in my sight. It was just me and Shadow now.

Without a word, Shadow continued to walk where he left off, and I soon followed him. Along the way, heard him mumble something about a bike, I stared at him in confusion.

"Bike?" I questioned. Shadow looked at me, and given me a short smirk.

"Yes, I used my own motorcycle to get to Radical Highway. I knew I parked it somewhere around here…"

I was more confused. "What about Chaos Control?" I asked. Shadow made a short chuckle.

"That technique gets too easy for me." He answered. "So I've decided to travel here the old fashioned way, besides; I haven't ridden a bike for so long…"

As soon as he finished his sentence, I noticed there was something parked not that far away. And there it was, a big shiny black and red motorcycle, parked perfectly on the short light-green grass.

Without a second thought, Shadow got on and started the engine. The motorcycle roared with life.

"Get on." Shadow made a smile. He looked like he was excited for me. I gave him a nervous look.

I got on in the back, and made two of my arms go around Shadow's waist and I held in that position.

"Ready Shadow!" I yelled when I tensed up. And then Shadow forced on the gas petal and then we were sent in full speed. It wasn't as fast as Sonic's speed, but it was fast enough for me to close my eyes shut.

Shadow felt that I held more to a tighter grip to him, and told me that I don't need to worry. After he spoke, he drove a little faster.

After thirty minutes of riding, I decided to open my eyes and look to see if we were close to our destination. We were.

The sky was tainted with dark scarlet and there were groupings of mechs around the area. And ahead were big buildings and rides that had goofy styling to it. You can say it almost looks like a dark amusement park. On the biggest building in front; held a big sign in neon wording. It said 'EggmanLand' with Eggman's neon-lighted face below. It was then that Shadow told me that we're here.

"This is his base?" I lowered my eyelids at the EggmanLand sign. Shadow grunted.

"It didn't used to look this stupid. It used to be a plain old base. But since everything is going perfect, Eggman is taking everything into action." The black hedgehog explained.

"So he wants our worlds to be cornish-looking amusement parks?" I laughed. "Something's wrong with him."

"Very. And this isn't the only time he built something like this. It happened not that long ago."

As soon we reached to the biggest building, the base, two large robot guards protected the entry. Shadow braked the motorbike to a stop and let the robots scan him and I.

"Welcome back Shadow, is this girl with you?" One of the robots asked, as it raises its gun in my direction. I tensed.

"Yes." He answered.

"You may proceed." The two robots moved out of the way so Shadow can move on. He then pressed on the gas, and continued ride till we reached the entrance room. Shadow parked and let me out first, then him.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered, just knowing there were security cameras hidden around. Shadow pretended to look like his false-self and glared at me.

"I'll bring you to Eggman first, and then I say something to him for me to bring you back out again. That's when I'll take you to your brother."

"But what if he finds out? There might be secret cameras around." My whispers became nervous.

"I'll find out a way, don't worry. Follow me."

Shadow made a grip on my left wrist, and took me down several long hallways and many passages. When we finally gotten to the biggest passageway, I knew Eggman was beyond it. We then entered, and saw that we were inside some huge computer room. There were monitors and screens everywhere. And right were the keyboards and the control system was, sat Dr. Eggman. He spun around in his big chair to look at us. His dark glasses gleamed.

"Ah welcome back, Shadow. And welcome sister, or should I say _Courtney_?" Eggman spoke to us with an enthusing look on his face. He had given me a smirk while I gave him a death glare in return.

"Where is my brother?!" I questioned out loud, out of the blue. All what Eggman did was make his annoying laughter of his. After four minutes of it, he finally spoke.

"Hahaha! You won't get to see him, my dear. He's on board on my newly repaired Egg Carrier! As soon as your dead, we'll aboard the ship and take over this world with your brother's grand power. And when that's done, your world would be next! Hahaha hohoho!"

I couldn't help but making a short smirk at the fat doctor, he just gave away of where my brother's located. What foolishness. As soon Eggman's laugh stopped, he looked at Shadow, more enthused than before.

"Well what are you waiting for? Finish her off!" He pounded his fists on the arms of the chair. Shadow looked at him with his false dark expression, and then he looked at me, then him again.

"Would you mind if I gave this wretch my last words to her outside? It's very important." Shadow asked Eggman. He looked suspicious.

"Hmmm important as of what?"

"Let's just say, the words I will tell her will hurt her more on the inside, then when I'll do on the outside." Shadow explained as evil as he sounded. Eggman looked intrigued.

"Yes! yes you may! Hurt her as much as possible! I like how you think, Shadow!"

"Thank you, Master." Shadow bowed down to him, and gotten permission to leave. As he lead be back to the passageway, I pressed my shoes on the floor to stop and pleaded Shadow to stop. I didn't want Eggman to get suspicious on what we're going to do next.

As soon we were out of Eggman sight, Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald as quickly as he could, and harshly whispered 'Chaos Control!' We reappeared by the opening gate of Eggman's Egg Carrier. I went on forward, while Shadow just continues to stand by the gate.

"Shadow?" I whispered his name in confusion, wondering why he isn't coming.

"Hurry and get him! Eggman will find out soon! Just yell if you need me!" The black hedgehog looked at me serious.

I quickly made a nod and rushed into the ship. By the time I got in there, there were many mechs walking about, and I had no choice but to knock down every one I see in my way. Just like in the base, there were many hallways, and passages. I ran down each and every one and knock down every mech that tried to stop me. By the time I was almost out of energy, I found one of the largest rooms on this ship. When I walked in, I finally found the one person I was looking for.

"Kyle...?"

When I looked ahead, I saw a sitting small black hedgehog with green stripes down his quills. He was strapped and injected with way too many computer cords. There were computers and monitors surrounding all around him from where the cords came from.

I then rushed to him and saw that his eyes were closed. I yelled his name countless times till his eyelids rose to the top of his eyes.

"W-Who are…you?" He spoke with a monotone of voice. I recognized his voice, he was my brother.

"Kyle? Is that you?" I wanted to make sure. He made a nod and told me yes.

"Do you know who I am!?" I placed both of my hands on his small shoulders. He looked at me with a blank expression on his face.

"Who are you?" He asked me again.

"It's me Courtney! Your sister! You may not recognize me but you can tell from my voice! I came to rescue you!" I explained fully. My brother's expression never changed.

"Courtney…? Sister…? I don't know you…I don't have a sister….I don't need to be rescued."

I stared at my brother in silence with my eyes widened. My heart dropped.

Countless times, I explained it thoroughly to him. But no matter how much I did, he responded with the same monotone answer. This was when I started to get furious.

"It's _these_ things!" I looked disgusted at the computer cords, many of them injected onto my brother. I grabbed a several bunch of these cords and gave a strong pull, but when I did so, my brother started to scream.

"STOP!!!" He screamed as loud as it could get. And then I felt a strong force push me back and hit the hard metallic wall. It hit me so hard that I blanked out for a second.

I saw Kyle stood up from his chair and started to walk forward me. His expressionless face vanished. Now he looked furious.

Before I got the chance to speak again, Kyle raised his hand in my direction, preparing to do the same attack.

Just when he set out a blow, something grabbed me and teleported to another place in the room. I looked back and saw Shadow's worried face, starring at me.

"You ok?" He asked me seriously. I was so tense, that I didn't have the chance to answer.

Shadow looked at my brother angry with a grunt. "Hey! Do you know what you're doing to your own flesh and blood!?"

Kyle didn't reply, instead he was prepared to do another blow. But Shadow went on ahead by teleporting with his Chaos Control. But little did he know, as soon he teleported to a new spot, he was forced down by my brother's power.

"Shadow!" I yelled and rushed to him. But I was struck and hit on the face of the wall again.

"Kyle…" I whispered his name, and struggled to back up on my feet again. When I was about to fall back, Shadow rushed by and held me up.

"Shadow…what's wrong with my brother?" I spoke as I looked frightened at Kyle. When Shadow was about to reply, a strong steel door slammed down of where we came through. We both ran right at it and pound on it. Other than that, everything in this room rapidly shook. The ship was taking off.

"Wahahahaha!" Eggman's laughter echoed in the room. Both of us turned and saw the source of his laughter was on the biggest computer screen in this room. Eggman stood there in the middle of the screen, laughing his heart out.

"Haha I knew this will happen! I have been tricked too many times to fall for something like that! It was indeed a nice try Shadow, you should be an actor!"

"Damn it…" Shadow mumbled disapprovingly under his breath. I glared at Eggman angrily on the screen.

"What did you do to him!? Tell me!" I screamed. Yet again, Eggman made his laugh and then he explained the whole situation to me.

"You see, my dear, I completely erased all of your brother's memories. Without them, he will never doubt whenever I give him an order. Like what I will say to him now: Kyle, destroy these pests! Hehe…I hope you'll enjoy your last night alive! Hohohohahahaha!" And the screen blanked out.

Like he was told, Kyle started walking towards us with his left hand out, preparing to do his powerful forceful wind attack. Shadow then grabbed a hold and shielded me from my dangerous brother. I stared at him with the same frightened expression which never left my face.

"I have a feeling that your brother might be stronger than I am...." Shadow explained to me as he gripped both of his hands on my shoulders while he kept me still against the strong metal wall.

"…even so, I'll do anything to keep you safe. I owe you…"

I immediately disagreed. "No! We can do this together, Shadow. It's not going to end like this!"

"But I don't want to do anything that'll harm him."

As I looked at Shadow once more, his face was in full shock, his grips let go as pain spreaded through his body. He was thrown aside as my brother took his place.

I made a quick glance back at Shadow; he was lying injured on the steel floor by the corner of the huge computer room. He didn't budge. But just as when I started to glance at Kyle, I then saw a crimson glow coming from Shadow, and he moved and slowly rose, standing back up…angry.

Instantly, Kyle ignored me. His attention was fully on Shadow now. And just like Shadow, Kyle was starting to glow as well, but a lime color instead of crimson.

That was when I figured it out. Kyle's power is absorbing other powers. He was planning to do a Chaos Blast, like Shadow was.

As their glows increased, I started to back away from my brother and from the scene. Just about five seconds, a huge red and green explosion occurred. I quickly made my force field appear as soon as it happened. Debris was flying everywhere and harshly hit my violet sphere.

When it was safe, I made my force field disappear and traveled my way through the smoke and debris. When the dusty clouds vanished, the only hedgehog that I saw was Shadow. He was left lying on the ground again.

I rushed to him, but out of surprise, Kyle grabbed a hold of me and pain was sharply hitting all over my body. He did the exact thing like he did with Shadow, absorbing my power.

When I was close to screaming, my brother threw me aside which hit me on the same wall as before.

"Kyle…" I said his name weakly while I stared at him till I was greeted with darkness. But during the middle of that, I heard a huge 'bam!' on the wall that I was leaning on, like someone punched it forcefully. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a blue hedgehog looking at me.

"Sonic?" I continued with my weak tone, and I felt him pick me up.

When my vision was coming back to me, I saw Dylan helping Shadow by letting him hold on to him, helping him walk over. Apart from that, I nervously looked for my brother, but I saw no sight of him. He was gone.

"Courtney? Are you ok!?" Sonic asked me worriedly as my vision was restored. I quietly said a 'yes' and made a nod at the same time. Yet, I was followed by related questions from Dylan, which I answered the same way, but included a small smile.

"Where is my brother?" I asked. He was the only person I thought of at the moment.

"Eggman called for him and I saw him teleport when we got here." Sonic answered. "I'm positive that he's still here."

I wanted to say that we should go and find him, and Eggman, but after what Shadow and I had been through…

"Do you think that we can save him with the Chaos Emeralds?" I asked yet again.

As soon as I said that, the seven colored Chaos Emeralds appeared out of thin air and started to circle around us slowly. I looked at Sonic confusingly; he looked at me back with his smile.

"It's the only option we got! And besides, I have a promise to keep." He winked as his smile widened to a grin.

And I couldn't help but grinning back.

As the seven emeralds circled around us more quickly, I saw Dylan and Shadow smile as well. All four of us were smiling. Like what Dylan told me not that long ago, I closed my eyes and focused on nothing more but the Chaos Emeralds.

As soon as I opened my eyes, all of us were floating in the air, covered in glowing gold and sparks of light flying everywhere. My weakness faded away and was now filled with grand power. That was the best part.

Without a single word, all of us headed forward as we passed and destroyed through series of strong metal walls and computers on our way to Eggman and my brother. It wasn't long till we found them…

And it wasn't long till our last battle began…


	23. Last Chance

Chapter 23 Last Chance

It wasn't long till we reached the cockpit of the Egg Carrier. All four of us destroyed everything in our paths till we finally reached there. When we saw Eggman standing in the middle of the room, there were no signs of nervousness or worry on his face. He was completely calm.

Kyle stood there beside him. He still had that emotionless face while he stared at the four of us. We have to get him back…maybe talking about the memories we've shared will make him come back to his senses, similar of what I've done with Shadow. If not, maybe fighting is the only option.

I looked at Sonic as he floated beside me. He stared at Eggman with a despising look in his eyes. Usually when he's up against Eggman, he's usually perky. But I can understand why he's like this, after all the terrible and stupid things Eggman has done up to this point.

Before we could've taken action, Sonic first tried to reason with Eggman. But like I predicted, it doesn't go out so well.

"Ha! Like I would stop what I'm doing and give up!" Eggman laughed. "Either way you destroy my Egg Carrier or not, Kyle here can take me anywhere I want! He can absorb any power or technique he sees. Heh, with a power as grand as his, you're no longer the most powerful lifeform on Earth, Shadow. How sad it must be to you…"

I heard Shadow's growl deep within his throat, even when I'm not floating next to him.

"Kyle, please, I don't want to do this." I looked at my brother with the feeling of sadness appearing on my eyes. "Please you have to remember…" I then floated slowly to him.

I then heard Sonic say my name, as if to call me back. Ignoring, I came right up to Kyle, hoping that he'll suddenly remember who I was and that his memories will come back to him. But no…

It was the complete opposite.

Kyle quickly grabbed a hold of my left arm and made a tight grip, and then threw me out the cockpit's windshield, which caused the glass to break and make me fly out in the air for miles.

As I retained my balance, I felt that pain that had occurred to me not that long ago. Which it might mean that brother must've absorbed more of my power, or, absorbed some of the Chaos Emeralds' power.

I looked ahead and saw the huge Egg Carrier in front of me, slowly heading forward in my direction. As I looked back on the broken windshield, I saw a light green flash coming through it and heading towards me, like a meteor heading for Earth.

I've gotten myself prepared for the blow, which is till five seconds till it rammed at me, a orange-gold flash managed to beat him to it and surrendering to the blow.

With my eyes widened, I saw Dylan taking a lot of pain as Kyle pierced into him.

"Dylan!" I screamed as he started to fall down from the aftermath of my brother's attack. Without a second thought, I flew quickly and grabbed a hold of him.

When I saw a glimpse of my brother heading right toward us, two gold streaks caught the black and green hedgehog, and pulled him back, away from the both of us. In series of speeds: Sonic, Shadow, and my brother fought as all three of them clashed into each other nonstop. It almost looked like fireworks having a feud.

"You ok, Court?" Dylan asked me as his eyelids rose up. I was instantly relieved.

"Yeah, and for the last time, please don't that again! I have a force field remember?" I let my best friend go as he soon recovered and gotten back in balance while we floated. I was worried of how much more time we'll be super like this, but Sonic told me that he and Dylan gathered enough rings for us to maintain like this for thirty minutes. I just hope we'll finish in time.

"But it almost looked liked he had you through! I don't want you to get hurt again." Dylan replied. I shook my head in disagreement. But before I replied back, I heard a loud crash from where the Egg Carrier was at.

As we looked in that direction, I saw that Sonic was thrown at the Egg Carrier with a strong force. As I looked to where the fight was being held, Shadow and Kyle were still going at it.

"We need to help them!" I told Dylan as I fled quickly as I can towards the battle. I then saw Dylan heading the opposite way to go and help Sonic.

"Enough Kyle!" I screamed as I ran right at him without him noticing.

He flew back some meters away after the recoil but he gotten back on his balance and headed straight for me again. I was about to unleash my barrier, but Shadow grabbed hold and teleported us to another spot. But it didn't work as well since he was in front of us in our new location. He glowed a lime green again.

"Chaos Blast!" He screamed as he released amount of great green energy around him. I blocked the attack by using my now-powerful barrier. I held it for awhile to catch my breath.

"How did he get so smart?" I asked Shadow as Kyle tried countless times to break through my violet sphere, just after using Shadow's technique.

"Remember the cords being injected into him?" Shadow asked me.

"Yeah."

"Eggman was inserting large amounts of information into him from the computers. Making him have a large enough IQ as him, or possibly even higher." He explained sadly as Kyle continuously banged at my barrier. "I was right…the Doctor was right…He is the new ultimate lifeform."

I close my eyes shut in disapproval. "Shadow I highly doubt that. I still believe that you're still the ultimate lifeform, even if my brother is stronger. I believe in you, Shadow." I winked. "Don't give up just yet."

Shadow grunted, as a little smile appeared on his face. "Who said I was giving up?"

Just as I was about to disintegrate my barrier, and take on full force on my brother, a gold flash sped by and tackled Kyle out of the picture. Sonic was back in battle again, and Dylan came and helped out.

I made my force field disappear as me and Shadow flew down quickly to the scene. All four of us quickly did turns of homing attacks on my brother, but it just continued to fuel my brother's anger as we continued on hitting him.

"C'mon Kyle! Finish them off!" I heard Eggman yell from the Egg Carrier. After hearing his order, Kyle did the same thing of what all four of us did to him. He had hit all of us with homing attacks quickly with speed, using Sonic's speed technique.

"That's it buddy! I had it!" Sonic yelled as he quickly dodged from another fast homing attack. "I'm the fastest thing alive, and nobody is going to take my talent away from me!"

As fast as I saw him did in his super form, Sonic blasted at my brother, predicting of where he'll go next with another of his homing attack, and knocked him off course once again. But it didn't end just there; Kyle flew right back at him by using the same speed Sonic had used before. But before he had hit him, I quickly fled in front and protected him with my violet barrier. Kyle halted to a stop. I saw him made a snarl at me.

"Stop it Kyle! I had enough of this!" I growled back at him. His only response was leaning his left fist far back, and then sent it flying forward.

The damage of his punch on my barrier was so powerful that it disappeared in an instant. But his punch didn't end there, it continued on where it had hit the barrier and then hit a powerful blow on my stomach.

I blanked out for a second, and then started to lose my balance to where I was floating. And then I went down and started to fall, leaving a trail of gold sparks as I continued heading down.

"COURT!!!" Sonic, Dylan, and Shadow screamed my name. Not for long, I felt somebody pick me up and held me. I looked up faintly, only to see Sonic's worried face.

"Court! Hang on!" He told me as worried as he looked. Darkness was approaching me again, soon to be blacked out.

"Sonic…please do what you can to save him…" My eyelids slowly fell, and the darkness met me once more.

* * *

Sonic looked at Courtney as soon her eyes had fallen. He looked up, to see her brother's emotionless expression, only to see him looking down at him.

Dylan and Shadow instantly rushed to Sonic without Kyle's interference, seeing Courtney barely moving. She was breathing, but slowly.

All three of them had anger slowly rising and they all looked back up at Courtney's brother. Sonic then looked at the two hedgehogs, now turning serious.

"We have a promise to fulfill, and I won't let it end here." He told them, as both Dylan and Shadow nodded.

Without a thought to spare, Dylan and Shadow rushed back up to Kyle, while Sonic rushed back up to the cockpit of the Egg Carrier.

He rested and left Courtney closely to the broken glassed windshield, careful not to lay her on broken pieces of glass. Sonic saw Eggman looking disgusted at the both of them nearby.

"You! What are—"

"I swear if you do anything to her, you don't even want to know what's going to happen to you." Sonic interrupted as he gave a death glare to Eggman. The Doctor freaked, and started to back away.

Sonic quickly flew back to where Kyle and the rest were at, only to see the three of them clashing and fighting again.

_I don't think we can bring him back in this condition; we have no other choice but to knock him out for now. But how can we do it if he's stronger then us?_

Sonic thought for a little bit longer and continually looked back at the fighting scene.

_Like before, I can predict of where Kyle would head next, and push him out of range. Then maybe Dylan and Shadow can do their strongest attacks to knock him out. Yeah! Sounds like a plan!_

Sonic flew more closely to the battle, and predicted to where Kyle would go next. And there, as quick and fast Sonic can possibly go in his super form, he tackled Kyle again out from the battle.

"Guys! Hurry up to him! Use your strongest attacks to knock him out! We're almost out of time!" Sonic screamed as he halted himself to a stop.

Dylan and Shadow quickly agreed and flew up to Kyle, who was trying to retain his balance. Shadow had glowed a deep red, and Dylan glowed a bright orange. They both closed their eyes shut and then released their power as they finally opened them again.

"Chaos Blast!" Shadow screamed.

"Overheat!" Dylan shouted.

Then there was a massive eruption of red energy and orange fire. There was no way Kyle could've survived that, it would've been impossible.

As the area finally cleared up from the smoke, Sonic saw both Dylan and Shadow holding Kyle's arms while they were dragging him while flying back up. He was knocked out.

* * *

As the darkness faded away from me, I slowly gain back my senses and slowly opened my eyes, finding myself back in the cockpit of the Egg Carrier. I looked at myself, seeing I was still glowing a light gold, and then I didn't help but notice Eggman freaking out while he was looking out back the broken glass windshield.

"NO!!! Why Kyle!? Why would you let yourself be defeated by these fools!? Why!?"

Full of anger, Eggman banged his fists at the control system below him, which caused red lights to blink around the room and set off alarms.

"W-Wait!? What did I just do!?" He then started to type on the keyboard on the control system to find out what mistake he done.

"Gah! No! The ship's going to crash!!!" Eggman started to freak out even more.

Just in time: Sonic, Shadow, Dylan came back through the broken glass and the seven Chaos Emeralds escaped from their bodies, as so with mine. All of the seven gems crashed through the tough metal from the ship, and had become separated once more.

After that occurrence, I noticed that Shadow and Dylan were holding Kyle from the arms like a rag doll. I quickly got up and rushed to him only to see he was knocked out. After that, I was about to look up to see my friends that had helped me when I was unconscious, but they quickly jumped and hugged me.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" Sonic had said to me. "I was worried about you!" Dylan yelled out. And all three of them said many other relieved words. It truly made me feel missed.

Before I got to say anything back, Eggman laughed nearby. All four of us turned to see Eggman riding on his small aircraft.

"Aww! What a happy reunion! Too bad cause this ship's going crash in ten minutes! I wonder how you four are going to escape this one!? Hahahahahohoho!!!" The Doctor said as he quickly fled outside from the broken windshield.

"Damn! and I was looking forward to do the worse to him!" Shadow growled as he saw Eggman continuing to flee outside. Just then, a huge quake occurred and all four of us fell down to the metal floor.

As we looked outside, the ship was crashing against a huge rocky cliff, causing some parts to fall off the Egg Carrier. Other than that, the ship was accelerating more and more closely to the ground.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Sonic said as he quickly grabbed a hold of me again, and then he ran to get to the back of the Egg Carrier.

I panicked and looked behind me, to see if Dylan and Shadow we're catching up, and they were. Dylan was catching up close to us, and Shadow was behind him while carrying my unconscious brother.

We passed through a bunch of obstacles and passages on our journey to the end of the Egg Carrier. When we got there, there wasn't an exit. So, Dylan walked up and used both his hands to make a fire blast onto a strong steel wall. After it was close to melting and weakening, he used his right foot to kick the large amount of steel off, to reveal our only ticket out.

As we looked outside, large parts of debris were falling off of the ship, and were continuing to do so. All of this of what was occurring now, made me think of that one scene off of Sonic next gen. When Sonic was carrying and trying to get Elise off the Egg Carrier. I looked at Sonic, and he looked at me. I think we both we're thinking the exact same thing.

"Aren't you worried?" Sonic grinned at me while he copied that same quote from that one scene. I laughed. But unlike copying Elise's quote, I made one of my own.

"If I don't worry, things will get better? Right?" I winked at him, my quote referring to his advice. He grinned.

"Ready?" He asked me when he leaned back, getting ready to jump. I made a nod.

Sonic then jumped out of the Egg Carrier, and we were falling down in the whipping air. I looked back again, to see if Dylan and Shadow were following, and they were. They were falling closely by us.

Sonic had his eyes set on nearest broken part of the ship, and then landed his feet on it for a second and bounced right off it, then there was another piece then the next one and another one. It was like going down huge steps of stairs.

It made me nervous from time to time, but I believed that Sonic was going to get through this safely, and I'm pretty sure the others will get down safe as well.

The ground was coming more close to us, and Sonic and the others continued with the same routine.

"Last step!" Sonic said as stepped on the huge piece of debris and made a big leap to escape the crash from the broken piece of the ship.

We landed down safely, and soon Dylan and Shadow met up with us, safe as well. As Sonic released me, all four of us ran down back down till we reached EggmanLand. When we gotten there, half of Team Sonic and Dark, Team Rose, Team Chaotix, and many other allies were there aside with many broken down mechs. Other than just that, some buildings and rides here were destroyed. All of them cheered once they saw us, chanting our names but mostly Sonic's.

At last, I finally gotten my brother back, and Eggman won't be a problem for us anymore (at least for awhile). It was now time for us to rest, and maybe start getting ready for us to head back home.


	24. Party

Chapter 24 Party

"So, is my brother going to be alright Tails?" I asked Tails as we where back in his workshop.

It didn't take us very long to get back here, back in EggmanLand, we celebrated our victory with the teams and allies for about fifteen minutes till I told Tails to go and get the Tornado 3. I had to know if my brother was going to be okay.

Tails walked near the right corner of the workshop, and carried and placed my unconscious brother into a scanner-like machine, and started it. As the scanning was finished, Tails checked the computer that was connected into the machine, to check the results.

"Yeah, your brother is going to be alright Court, but…"

My heart was full of excitement for a second, and then it stopped till Tails reached the end of his sentence.

"But what?" I said nervously.

"According to the results, your brother is still missing his memories. If he awakens without them, Kyle will be in that same condition as he was before. But not to worry, I'll erase all the powers he's absorbed to not cause any damage when he awakes." Tails explained to me.

"And the memories?"

Tails made a smile. "I'm sure Eggman has kept a file on his computers back in EggmanLand. He's mostly disorganized and probably kept them somewhere. I know for a fact because I looked into his computers a couple of times. Messy!" His smile widened.

A smile appeared on my face as well. "So, you're going to get them back?"

The two-tailed fox nodded, as he grabbed a blank disc from his computer desk. "Yep! I'll just burn them onto this disc! Just leave everything to me, Court! It might take a day or two, so you might want to take the time to relax. It must've been hard work for you and the others to fight back Kyle, and Eggman."

"Ok, and yeah it was…" I yawned, as I started to head out the door. But before I entered out, I looked back at Tails again.

"Thank you Tails, this means a lot to me." I smiled tiredly at him.

"Anytime Court!" Tails replied chipper. In return, he smiled back and made a wink.

Once I exited, I walked back into the Tornado 3 to see Sonic and Dylan still sitting there in their seats. I guess they thought sleeping in the Tornado would be better than sleeping against a tree, or a rock outside.

When I got in, everybody was instantly excited and awake. Like I was that important to be awake for…

"Guys just go to sleep; you don't have to wait for me." I told them as I got settled, more tired than I was before.

"But we want to tell you something!" Dylan grinned at me, Sonic did too. I was worried.

"What's going on?" I said when my eyes widened in concern.

"At Bloom City tomorrow night, we're going to have a party for Eggman's defeat. Every team and ally is invited!" Sonic told me.

Now, I was more awake than before. A party? In Bloom City? "Really!?"

My best friend nodded. "Yep!"

I was now excited, even my tiredness couldn't beat out my excitement. We're having a party in one of my favorite places in Sonic's world. With many colorful flowers around us, little glittering lights surrounding the city, sparkling ripples in the water from the fountains, blasting awesome music…

But wait, I need a dress. I sure everyone needs dressy clothes for this event…

"We're going Bloom City right in the morning to get clothes." Sonic then answered my question. "But when you were still in Tails' workshop; Amy called and wanted you to go dress shopping with her, along with Blaze, Rouge, and Cream."

My excitement stopped again. I was okay with every other girl character to go dress shopping with, but Amy had to be included? Why?

Both hedgehogs saw my right eye twitch, meaning I was far away from agreeing to this. But I thought things over, and bet all of the guys will be shopping together too. It sucks not be with your best friend and the other guy friends for the day, but I bet the night will be worth it in the end. Besides, maybe shopping with Amy won't be so bad…wait, what did I say?

I rested my head on the plane seat and softly answered an 'Ok.'.

Sonic raised an eyebrow, curious of how I didn't burst out in a complaint. "You sure?"

"Yeah." I answered. "How bad could it be? It's not like Amy's going to pick out my dress or anything…" I made a soft nervous laugh.

"You'll never know with her." Sonic said as he rolled his eyes at the thought of her. Then he laid his head on the seat, like I did.

"Just think about the party tomorrow during the day, Court. It'll be something to look forward to." Dylan said to me, as he started to drift off.

"Oh, I will, so don't worry." I made another soft laugh. "Night guys."

"Night." Both hedgehogs answered back, as my eyelids slowly fell.

And then we all drifted into a blissful sleep.

* * *

"Ah! Courtney! Finally you're here!" Amy squealed as she given me a death hug after Sonic.

The next morning, we were now at Bloom City. When we got to the entrance, I saw Amy standing there with the rest of the girls. As I can tell, all three of them look like they were in the same position as me, except for Cream, who actually enjoys Amy's company. When Amy finally laid eyes on Sonic, in a flash she caught and hugged him like she always does. And for the first time, she ran up and hugged me as well, like I was a friend that she never saw for years.

"Uh Amy? Court's suffocating." Dylan told the pink hedgehog in a worry tone. I then coughed for air.

"Oops! Sorry!" Amy instantly let go, and I quickly breathed in much air as I could.

"Well we got to go." Sonic backed away from Amy as far as he could. "If we continue to stick around, then we'll never get our stuff in time for the party." He rushed and gave me a hug, and Dylan did soon afterwards.

"See you later Court!" Both hedgehogs said, and they ran off deeper into the flower-filled city, and disappeared.

"Hmph! He didn't even say goodbye to me!" Amy said while looked towards the city, expecting Sonic to come back to say bye.

I looked to see that Blaze and Rouge walked over to me, not wanting to be by Amy at the moment. Maybe it was a good time to introduce myself.

"So you guys are Blaze and Rouge? It's a pleasure to meet both of you." I smiled sweetly at them. "My name's Courtney, but I liked to called Court."

Both of them nodded. "Yeah, Silver told me about you. He told me that the whole cause of yesterday was to rescue your brother from Eggman, correct? Is he doing well?" Blaze asked me.

"Yes, and I'm not sure. Tails said that he's missing his memories, but he told me that today he's going to retrieve them from one of Eggman's computers. I hope he returns back to normal." I explained sadly.

"I'm pretty positive that he will." Blaze smiled. "Tails is a smart fox."

"Yes, you mustn't worry." Rouge said. "You don't want to ruin this whole day worrying, do you?"

_Why do I always break his promise by worrying?_

I made a sigh. "Yeah, you're right. But still, there's another thing troubling me…" I looked straight at Amy, who's still looking out and whining while Cream was trying to calm her down.

"Oh Amy?" Rouge said and laughed. "Don't worry, we got your back."

"We dislike her as much you'll probably do." Blaze counted in.

"Wow, really?" I wanted to make sure. They all answered with a nod.

I was relieved.

As soon Amy had stopped her whining, we went into the city and went to store to store to find dresses, shoes, and jewelry that we needed for tonight. I was afraid that Amy was going to ruin the whole thing by picking out dresses for us, but, it turns out that she wants everyone's opinion of what dress she'll look good in.

"How about this one? No no! That one! Which one will look better on me!? Which one will Sonic like!?" Amy said while holding out a short sparking red dress, and a long ruffled red dress.

Carelessly, we all just chose the short red dress.

Finally, after Amy was done getting all of her things out of the way, soon it was Cream's turn, who she chosen a pretty short orange dress, with made shades of the color.

Blaze gotten a long and skinny black dress. And Rouge's dress was similar to Blaze's, but it had many magenta sequins and it was a dusty pink color.

As soon it was my turn, Rouge instantly spotted a dress that would be perfect for me.

It was a long lavender strapless dress, which had many sparkles on the top, and then faded when it gotten to the end. It looked like something a princess would wear.

"Yeah Rouge, this will go great on her. What do you think, Court?" Blaze agreed and asked me.

"Um I don't know. It looks too formal, and it costs a lot of rings, I really do like it…but I would just stand out too much." I said. Rouge laughed.

"Who cares if you would stand out, you'll look beautiful!"

In the end, I got the dress, along with black heeled shoes. Till we were finally gotten done shopping, we went to the back of the store to one of the dressing rooms, and gotten dressed. I was the last one out.

As soon as I exited; Blaze, Rouge, and Cream commented on how gorgeous I looked. Amy didn't say anything and just continuously stared at me.

"Stop it guys." I closed my eyes in disbelief. "You should look at yourselves. You look more amazing."

"I didn't just hear that! Even though _I' am_ beautiful." Rouge smiled at me, then she turn to look at Amy. "Well Amy, I didn't hear you say anything, doesn't Court look wonderful?"

I could've sworn I saw a glare on her eyes when she looked at me. "Yeah, sure." She said. Figures. I would've expected that kind of answer from her.

As we were done with the store, we gotten outside to see that it was already sunset, and little lights that were hung everywhere in the city were already lit. But other than just that, I could hear faint music playing far away.

"Don't tell me they started without us!" Blaze shouted out shocked. Then Amy started to run away from us and towards the music.

"Sonic!" She yelled her false boyfriend's name while she ran down the street, being careful not to bump into anything or anybody.

"Amy, wait!" Cream dashed right after her, while her Chao, Cheese, flew right by her side.

Blaze, Rouge, and I exchange glances.

"Well, let's go!" Rouge said as she, Blaze, and I ran towards the music, catching up closely to Amy and Cream.

As all six of us finally gotten to the source, we found ourselves in the middle of the city, which was a fully lit colorful flowery garden with a beautifully huge marble fountain in the center. This was the place when I almost had gotten kidnapped by Eggman's mechs.

In the left corner of the garden, there were the big stereos blasting the music, and Vector was standing there with a whole bunch of CDs stacked next to the CD player. He must be the DJ.

The only problem about all of this is that the guys weren't here yet. They're not done with their shopping yet?

"Sonic!" Amy screamed out the blue hedgehog's name again, and started a huge search around the garden.

"Amy, I don't think he's here yet." Cream said to Amy as Cheese made a little cry to say that he agreed with her.

I was thinking about going back to search for the guys, that is till I felt a gentle poke on my right shoulder.

I quickly turned back, and saw Sonic standing in front of me while making a little wave. But it wasn't just him, Dylan was there, Shadow was there, almost every guy character was there. And they all were wearing tuxes.

They all looked pretty nice.

"Wow Court, you look amazing!" Dylan complimented while grinning.

"Yeah Court, you really do!" Sonic said afterward, grinning as well.

"To my standards, you look more then just amazing." Shadow said lastly. He made a little smile.

After hearing all that, it just left me staring blank at the ground with me blushing everywhere. After ten seconds of that, I raised my head and looked at the three hedgehogs again.

"Thanks guys, you look pretty amazing yourselves." I smiled. Their smiles never did fade.

"Thanks!" All three of them answered at different times.

It wasn't long till the party had gotten started, it was funny cause it started out with that song, which was 'Let Get it Started' by Black Eyed Peas. And it was soon lead to Lady Gaga songs, which Dylan suggested.

When Pokerface started, Dylan dragged me out to the dance floor and made me do the dance with him.

I did know some parts of the Pokerface dance, but I mostly followed the moves Dylan did. I was laughing throughout the entire time.

There were times when I danced to groups, my teammates, the girls, and there were times when I slowed danced with a guy.

Surprisingly, Espio the Chameleon was the first to ask. But it just led to Shadow cutting in and left me finishing the dance with him.

"That was rude." I mumbled to Shadow when the song was nearing its end.

"He had it coming." He grunted and replied.

During the middle of the dance, somebody poked me yet again, and left me turning back. Instead of Sonic this time, it was surprisingly Tails; he was wearing a tux as well. And right next to him was my brother in hedgehog form, all fine and well. He was dressed up too.

_He's back!?!_

"Tails!? Kyle!? Wait! Kyle! Do you remember me?" I started to spaz out, and then suddenly everybody stopped dancing and all turned their attention to us.

"Yeah, you're Courtney, duh." Kyle replied, making a short smile. I squealed out full of joy, and hugged him tight. He was back! He remembered me again!

Everyone cheered as soon we just start hugging, happy that my brother was back to normal. And it just left me hugging Tails next.

"Thank you Tails! I owe you big time! Thank you soo much for helping him!" I started to tear up.

Tails chuckled through the hug. "Nah! No you don't! It was no problem Court, anytime!"

Soon afterwards after the event, we all started to dance again. But another slow song came up and Sonic rushed up to me.

"Wanna dance?" He handed his hand to me, and I slowly grabbed it. I couldn't help but look around to see if an angry Amy was around. Who knows what she'll do if she finds out that I'm slow dancing with Sonic.

"Hey, don't worry about her." Sonic said to me, as if he read my thoughts. "I told her I'll be slow dancing with you one time."

My nervousness slipped away. "Really?"

Sonic answered happily with a nod.

As we walked into the dance floor, and spun around slowly to the music for a few times, there was a look in Sonic's eyes that seemed like he wanted to say something, but I can tell he was too afraid to say.

"What is it?" I asked him. I couldn't help but worry.

"Huh?" Sonic snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, it's nothing."

"It doesn't look it." I said. He made a sigh.

"Well…What will you think if you, Dylan, and your brother lived here, instead back at your world?"

My eyes instantly widened in shock from the question. "What?"

He sighed again. "I really want you and the others to stay here. You guys make such good partners, and I don't want you to leave. You're a great friend to me."

I thought about what Tails said to me before, about when Sonic sees his new friends leave. It was coming close to this point, and I don't want to leave Sonic for good, or Shadow, or anybody else who lives here. I had an amazing time while I was here, it was like a utopia.

But I have to go back, as much as I love it here, I have to. It's my home.

"Sonic…" I said quietly, not wanting to say anything at all. "I…I'll…I'll think about it." I told him. There was a shred of hope in Sonic's eyes.

As the song was finally over, I went over from Sonic and walked to and laid against by one of the brick walls bordering the garden. I stood there, watching friends dance to several of fast songs, yet, thinking about what Sonic had said while we we're dancing together.

_Why would I say that to him? I can't stay here, but yet, I don't want him to feel sad. What am I going to do…Sonic…_

My thoughts were interrupted when Dylan suddenly came by and stood in front of me. He looked puzzled at my expression.

"What's wrong? How come you're not dancing?" He asked me. I made a sigh.

"My head is just filled with thoughts is all, nothing wrong." I lied. He tilted his head and made a goofy face at me, which made me chuckle. "Really?"

"Yeah, nothing." I tried to make it sound more truthful, but it didn't work out well.

"I can see right through you Court." He still made that goofy face. I continued on chuckling. But before he asked me any more, the Fireflies song came on. I instantly perked up.

"Hey it's that song!" I grinned at the music. Dylan grinned as well.

"Yeah! Fireflies!" He responded, as he raised his hand out to me.

"I know I'm not a slow dance kind of guy, but wanna dance?" He asked.

I made a nod and grabbed my best friend's hand and made our way to the dance floor. On our way there, I saw Cream slow dancing with Kyle. I just had to say 'Aww' when we passed by.

As we've begun to slow dance, that memory appeared in my mind when Dylan and I were listening to this song on his iPod and while there was a bunch of fireflies out in the open in the forest. Even though it wasn't that long ago, it was still a great memory. Also, it just reminded me of the question I was going to ask Dylan. I had that thoughtful yet worried expression on my face once again, and of course it led to Dylan asking me what's wrong again.

"Court, tell me what's wrong? You're really making me confused." He asked me. I tensed up and looked at the ground for a few seconds, and then I looked up at him.

"Well, there's something I've been wanting to ask you." I told him.

He looked confused. "Really, what do you want to ask me?"

"Well…" I started out. "You and I both know that we'll be graduating before you know it, and when we're out of school, I keep thinking that I'll never see you or hang out with you as much anymore. I don't want our friendship to disappear…"

Dylan gave me a blank serious stare for a moment, and then he made a laugh and smiled.

"Is that what's bothering you, Court?"

"Yeah." I answered. "Will we be best friends forever?"

Dylan looked at me serious again. "Courtney, I have a good feeling that we will. We will be best friends till the end of time, and I promise you that."

I looked at him, serious as well. "Really?"

"Positive." He winked.

As soon as he said that, I saw floating blinking lights entering the garden. And of course, they were all fireflies! As if the song made them follow here.

"Fireflies!" Dylan blurted as we both, and everybody else started to walk all over the place, happily catching the little lighting bugs.

But when the song ended, and that the fireflies slowly flew away, one by one, I saw something flew up above the garden.

It looked liked metal, and when it gotten closer, it looked like a small hovering TV. And it lowered itself completely into the garden till everyone noticed.

"Don't tell me." Dylan growled, having a bad feeling that this hovering TV device was from Eggman. I had the same feeling as well.

When the screen of the TV lit up, Eggman's face quickly appeared on it. He made his annoying laugh before he spoke his message.

"What do you want Egghead!? Do you know we're busy having a party?" Sonic said annoyed while he walked up to the floating television.

"Haha! This message is not for you, pesky blue hedgehog! It for the sister, her brother, and her friend…" Eggman smirked in the TV screen.

"What's the message?" I made a dirty glare at the Doctor. The TV screen hovered towards me and Dylan.

"Remember the portal that I created to get to your world? The portal where you passed through to get to my world?"

"What about it?" Dylan continued to growl.

"Well, let's just say in the next couple of hours, it'll disappear completely! Then how are you going to get back!? Hahahahohoho!!!"

Then the screen turned off, and the television floated back up into the night sky and flew away.

After the message, I was all tense, and the only thing I heard was my heart thumping loudly in my chest.

We needed to get back to Green Hill Zone. Now.


	25. Goodbye

Chapter 25 Goodbye

So, my night of fun was already over.

I really wanted to stay, truly I do, but my door to getting home was so close to being shut.

I quickly rushed around the garden, giving out hugs and goodbyes. It made me emotional to each person I said goodbye to, I wasn't ready for this.

As soon me, Dylan, and Kyle changed back into our old clothing again, Sonic went over to me and lifted me up into his arms. He went into a sprint position, and was ready to charge out into the open road and into the zones that awaited us.

"Why can't I run beside you? I'm pretty sure I can keep up." I told the blue blur. But he just shook his head.

"You won't, 'cause I'm going to use my true speed. I'm the fastest living thing, remember?" Sonic said sarcastically, yet, sadly at the same time.

_I'm sorry Sonic…_

"Dylan, do you think that you can keep up with me?" Sonic asked my best friend, while he walked over beside us. He gave Sonic a serious stare.

"Trust me Sonic, I will." Dylan told him.

Sonic said a loud 'Ok!' and went into the sprint position again. Behind us, I heard Tails explaining to my bother about the situation that we are in. But something surprised me of what Kyle said afterward.

"Portal? Going back home? But I was having so much fun here! I don't want to leave yet!"

Yet it surprised me, it still gave me a smile during a time like this.

When we all had gotten settled: Sonic, Dylan, Kyle, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles and I were ready to head back to the place where our adventure and yet the game once took place. Everybody from the party grouped up behind us, and said their goodbyes once more. And not for long, Sonic started the countdown and then he ran right out from the party, the roads, the city, and out back into the open plains, while friends followed.

* * *

It was about twenty minutes later till we've reached Green Hill Zone. Sonic then stopped and stood by the corkscrew, to wait for the others to catch up. He let me down.

When I looked up at him again, he was same while the whole travel here. I don't know what to say to him now. I don't want him to feel any more worse than he already is.

"Have you thought about it?" Sonic asked me, breaking out the silence between us. I looked at him normally for a sec, but it just lowered.

"Sonic...I can't stay here…" I started out saying. "I've been causing pain to my family from each day that I'm gone…I have a home and a life out there…and I don't want to leave it…"

After I spoke, Sonic placed two of his gloved hands on my shoulder, making me look into his peridot eyes.

"But you're happy here, are you?" He asked me, his face even more sad than before.

"Yes…" I said, turning emotional once again. "I love it here Sonic, why wouldn't I? This place is fun, beautiful, amazing…there are too many words to describe how incredible this world is." I smiled as a tear went down my face.

It almost looked like that Sonic was about to say something else, but it just turned out to be a hug.

"I'm sorry Sonic." I said as more tears went down my face, and onto his arm.

"But I understand." Sonic told me. "I would do the exact thing if I was in your shoes."

After he released me, we saw everybody catching up by entering Green Hill Zone. Sonic then again scooped me up in his arms, and begun to dodge and go through every obstacle in his way from the rest of the zone. Next, he went up the big hill that we once went down together at the beginning of the adventure. Then it was through the woods.

As we walked past a few trees, we saw a little white light twinkling ahead, and we continued to walk till we finally got a good look at it.

Eggman was right, the portal was disappearing. The portal now looked no bigger then half the size of my body. It was decreasing when each minute flew by.

When the rest of the team catched up, and gotten to us, they all gasped in shock of what was left from the portal.

"It looks like it's shrinking in size when each minute passes." Tails said as he examined it. I was right.

Dylan and I both exchanged the same sad glance, and I knew that he felt the same way that I'm feeling.

"I don't want to leave…" Dylan said softly. "But…all what we'll be doing is leaving our family and friends behind."

"Yeah." I answered him as tears begun to form in my eyes again. I tried my best to hold them back. "I will really miss it here…"

It was then we gave all our hugs and goodbyes, but it had hurt me more this time than the last, because I've shared a lot good memories with all of them. They were my teammates, my partners, my friends…

I kept struggling with the tears, knowing that I will never see them again. But in a way, I kind of felt like that I _will_ see them again. But what am I thinking? Hope never helps me. It'll never happen.

After I hugged, thanked, and said my goodbyes to Knuckles and Tails, I went over to Shadow next. But before I had the chance to say anything, he instantly grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug. It was so tight, that I was having trouble breathing.

"Thank you so much for helping me during those events in the past. You are one of the most intriguing, yet, kindest people I've met." Shadow told me in his mysterious deep voice. I will miss hearing it.

When he released me, he grabbed my shoulders and made me pay attention to him. Just like of what Sonic had done earlier. Now I was staring into deep ruby eyes.

"Please stay." He convinced me sorrowfully. A tear just fell from one of my eyes, I almost couldn't tell because my emotions were taking a beating at me.

It took me a moment to calm down. Then I looked at Shadow sadly, yet serious, before I spoke.

"I can't." I told him. "I have a life back in my world, and I don't want to betray it."

It was similar of what I told Sonic, back in Green Hill Zone. I saw Shadow close his eyes in disappointment, and gently shoved me away.

"Shadow?" I said his name in confusion while I slowly walked back to him. But he rashly told me to stay.

He made a grunt. "Keep your distance. If you come any closer, then there will be no possible way for me to let you go."

He then turned away, and begun to travel back to Green Hill Zone. But just before he turned, I saw a tear fell from one of his eyes.

_Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog…I'm sorry…_

I watched the black hedgehog walk away, till he was no longer seen anymore. Then I walked back close to the portal, where Sonic was still standing in the same spot. As I got to him, he slowly reached something from behind him, and revealed a bright glowing gold ring.

"Sonic? What is—"

"Back when I was a kid, I used these power rings to give me an extra boost while I was fighting against Eggman. This is my last one." Sonic interrupted me and explained. He then reached for my right hand by my side, grabbed it, opened it, and then placed the glowing ring in my hand.

"I want you to keep this, so that you'll remember this world, and the adventure that we went through together." He closed my hand.

Tears were now starting to downpour. "But Sonic, you said this is your last one. I don't—"

"No." Sonic said, interrupting me again, now with his eyes filling with sadness. "It'll be safer with you."

Before my eyes will cloud up from the tears, I ran at and hugged Sonic for the last time. We hugged each other tight while both of us we're crying through it. I'll miss him as much he'll probably miss me. As our hug lasted long enough, I let him go and told him goodbye, as he had done the same.

The light soon engulfed us as Dylan, Kyle, and I slowly stepped through the portal. But before the light closed the pathway to Sonic's world, I gave one last smile to the blue blur.

The End

**AN: Yep, this is the last chapter! But not to worry, I will be making a sequel for this story! The title for the next one will be: A Hedgehog Story: World Adventure **. **So check every now and then because it'll be up soon ^^ Oh! And I want to thank everyone who had read and reviewed for this story, it really made me happy! And I hope you'll continue on with my next one! ^_^**


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